JACOB HERIC


I PREFER NOT TO
Slug mates: "almost beyond imagining."
October 23, 2007

Given their frequency, why shouldn't two of my first five posts be about slugs?

This is a clip from the BBC's and David Attenborough's Life in the Undergrowth, which we've just begun to watch. It's a fascinating series that's as much about film gadgetry as invertebrates and that, as such, disappoints some for it's lack of detail. These are Leopard Slugs mating. As I mentioned before, they're hermaphrodites. Which becomes evident towards the end of the clip in a luminescent, fanning, intertwined genital sort of way. I can't tell if Attenborough's narrations are profound in their accuracy and simplicity or if I'm just beguiled by the british accent ("AlGae"), the flyaway white hair and the apprehension that the teetering narrator will collapse in the desert and describe, awestruck and wistful, what it's like to be overrun by a swarm of stinging scorpions.

I'm not sure how the BBC feels about its content being on you tube. The video and info on their site is much better. I just can't embed their videos in my posts.