I've seen and photographed leopard slugs mating once before, but it remains one of the most unusual of wildlife encounters I've seen. It happened again last night. I was out waiting for foxes (no luck) and photographing hungry spiders when I spotted a pair of slugs on a wall. 
When I looked again a few minutes later, they were suspended like this.
They wrapped themselves into a tight spiral.
The sex organs then everted. They are both hermaphroditic and there is full equality in leopard slug mating: they both become pregnant.
After nearly 30 minutes they begin to disengage.
And finally they go their separate ways.
That is a very brief excerpt of a much longer sequence. I also took a littl ebit of video, though with next to no light and hand holding the camera and a torch the quality isn't great. I'll see what I can salvage of it over the next few days. Meanwhile there are a few more shots in the gallery.
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.
8 Comments
My friend told me yesterday that he was watching them mating few weeks ago when he was in his summer house in central Serbia. He said there were a lot of them and in couple of days they just disappeared :left:
Kate writes:
Thats one of the strangest things Ive ever seen! Thanks for the slug education. Nature is beyond complex and amazing.
Darko, I'll have to look to see if ours are still around. I'm not sure where they go after mating, but possibly back into the undergrowth.
Kate, thanks! This is one of the odder bits of animal behaviour, for sure.
Erwin, thanks! There were more of them yesterday. It's clearly their season.
Mick, beautiful song and perfect for the love slugs!
:sing: If there's slugs on your wall,
:sing: And they're wrapped in a ball.
:sing: That's Amore.
😀
Interesting