The strange and sensational world of leopard slug sex

A leopard slug's huge blue-tinted penis and upside-down reproductive acrobatics make for a colourful sex life. Twisting their slimy bodies together, the large slugs dangle upside down from a glittering rope of mucus, slowly rotating. Then, out of the molluscs’ heads emerge large, blue, tube-like growths that wrap and writhe around each other. If you come across this weird sight, you'd be forgiven for thinking the slug's wriggling blue protrusions were some sort of parasite, or even emerging young. But what you’d actually be witnessing is a mating ritual of a pair of amorous leopard slugs, and the large blue tubes that grow out of the right side of the slugs’ heads are their immense penises. Terrestrial slugs are hermaphrodites – so by wrapping their penises around one another, leopard slugs fertilise each other’s eggs. Welcome to the strange, sticky and sensational world of slug sex. “Leopard slugs and their relatives are unusual among slugs in that they hang upside-down to mate,” says Dr Ben Rowson, an expert in terrestrial molluscs at the National Museum Wales-READ MORE LINK-http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150114-the-strange-sensational-world-of-leopard-slug-sex