WEBVTT - My Slimey Valentine: The Slug Life 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:06.720 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:14.000 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:17.759 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie slug Douglas. 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:22.799 Happy Valentine's Day. This is our special episode, my Slimmy 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.040 Valentine's a slug life, and indeed things are going to 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:28.560 get a little sexy in this episode for all your 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:30.800 listeners out there. And in fact, let's go ahead que 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:32.640 up a little little Verry White just to sort of 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:36.839 set the mood here, because you know, as humans, we 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:40.159 live in this world of human sexuality, and we have 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.520 all this baggage attached to it, all these thoughts about 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.479 what is what is appropriate, what is taboo, what is 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:48.960 a little risque? Uh? You know? And that music playing 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:50.640 in the background there by the way, that was a 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:52.879 little Verry White with can't get Enough of Your Love 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:57.400 Babe nine four classic or can't get enough of that 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:02.440 slug love Now you're yeah with the slugs. The slug 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:07.000 serves as an example of just how wild and diverse 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:14.559 and to humanize hideous uh, sexual reproduction really is in 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:18.200 in in nature and and maybe how sanitized it is 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:22.000 in humans. I don't know. That's that's a value judgment. 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:24.080 I'll leave that for someone else to make. It shows 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:26.440 us how much human baggage we bring to the situation. 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:28.720 I'm going to tell you that some slug sex, in 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:32.399 particular leopard slugs, and we'll talk more about them, kind 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:34.760 of make human sex look a little milk toast, a 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:37.480 little vanilla. Yeah, I will. I will admit that as 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:40.039 repulsed by slugs as I am, like, I feel like 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.840 this deep in my James repulsion to them, not in 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:45.680 my blue jeans, but in my actual genetic material, Like 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:48.840 there's a deep like there in my ancestral enemy um 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:50.880 that that I am avoiding because I know they will 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:55.360 crush me. You think you have ancestral memories exactly of slugs. 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:59.160 As repulsed as I am, I have to admit that 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:03.080 there is some thing weirdly beautiful about it. If not beautiful, 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.600 then at least elaborate, Like it's it's elaborately grotesque. It's 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.720 it's it's grotesque in a way that that that it 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.600 becomes almost art. All right, So before we start talking 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:16.799 about slug sex and all girding our loins for that, 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:21.000 let's talk about slug anatomy. Because most slugs are hermaphrodites, 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:24.040 they have both a penis and a genital opening, right, 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.040 so when they have sex they can both fertilize and 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.080 are fertilized. It's important to remember too that your coming 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.000 slug it's ancestor had a had a shell. It is 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:39.679 descended from shelled gastropods. So if your rear end is 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:42.440 in a shell, where do you think evolution has put 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.120 all of your important bits right up there at the head. 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:49.120 So it's from the head that the penis of a 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:52.679 of a slug protrudes right out the side like a 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:55.840 weird hat. Yes, and they yeah, I think about the 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.919 penus being over there too, is over there too, so 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.440 so there's that. And again yes, this is because they 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:05.440 are descended from snap the genital orifice, everything, the mouth, 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:07.760 everything has to be upfront, has to be front loaded, 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.160 because the rear is back there in the shell where 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:13.760 Dr Doolittle rides. If you are a fan of that 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.480 movie and really knowing all the stuff about snails makes 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:18.960 that even weirder. So keep that in mind when we're 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:21.440 talking about some of the configurations that these slugs make 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.320 when they are engaging in their reproductive efforts because again, 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.160 all the business is pretty much over there on the head. Yeah, 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:31.919 face to face sex, because that's where it's two faces 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:36.440 going at it. Alright, various ways as well, discuss let's 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:39.240 discuss one of the ways one of the strategies that 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:44.280 slugs approach reproduction. Yes, Now, it's important to to realize 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:47.520 that what we're talking about here sexual conflict between among 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:49.520 these creatures. And this is the idea that you have 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:55.600 individuals in a species and they are competing with other 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.760 individuals for mates. So they want to do whatever they 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:02.080 can to ensure that their genetic material passes on and 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:06.800 not the genetic material of rivals and other other individuals 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:12.480 that that their mate is mating with. So you see 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.200 various methods in various animals, whether the uses you see, 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:18.000 for instance, their sperm plugs, which you can you can 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:20.720 look up, which it's it's about. I've got mine in there, 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:22.280 so I'm just gonna sort of block it up so 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.240 that nothing else is gonna get in there too. You 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:29.160 see barbed penises in various creatures, especially in in in insects. 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:31.800 I've seen them referred to as torture pholusis if you 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:33.800 want to hear more about that. Check out our our 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:35.920 episode that we did on the penis and the evolution 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.440 of the penis. Um you. So you see a lot 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.960 of sexual competition evolution trying to to to game this 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.080 scenario so that the the the mating creature has the 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.320 advantage over all the other creatures that are mating with 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:50.520 its mate. I'm glad you cued that up because I 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:52.320 think that it's it's important to keep this in mind 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:56.640 when you think about um slugs in what seems sort 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:01.880 of rough dealings with reproduction and of cour without anthropomising them, 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.320 but um, we can't help to. But thinking of it 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.320 in that context, I think helps you to better understand why, 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:12.000 um it is maybe as dire seeming as it is, 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:14.840 or I mean, it's a it's a brutal game with 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.160 high stakes. The stakes are high. They couldn't be any 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.040 higher because ultimately, the genetic mission of this creature and 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:22.559 any any creature is to pass his genes on. Yeah. 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:26.920 So let's look at the sea slug, all right. According 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:31.039 to I O nine author Robert T. Gonzalez, uh sex 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.719 is initiated when one slug uses a syringe like organ 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.520 to gore its partner and that's where the stabbing comes in. Yes, 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:40.719 and you you see the same activity in a number 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:42.760 of air breathing land snails and slugs as well, So 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.279 this is not particular to sea slugs, right, but in 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.799 this particular instance, you've got that syringe like organ goring 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:52.560 its partner and injecting prostate fluid into its body. And 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:55.680 then they made a second time, this time with one 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:59.320 slug inserting its penis into the partner's genital opening that 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:02.800 they made through the stopping. So these are two separate acts. Basically, 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.400 one is shanking and the other sexing. Yeah, I mean 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:08.880 the way I like to think of it is the 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:13.080 the final knife fight in dune Um between Paul Trades 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:16.440 and Uh and the Harcone and kid played by a 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:18.840 Sting in the movie you know there, it's this this 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:22.200 vicious fight when they have to counter each other's shields 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.720 with their slow moving daggers, and at least one of 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:28.720 the daggers this poison divider call. So it's that kind 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:30.920 of situation. There's kind of a it's like they're they're 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.600 making love to each other, these snails, these slugs, but 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.840 they're also trying to stab each other. It's it's it's 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:40.880 often described by biologists is ultimately a joust sword fight 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:45.200 because whoever gets their loved dart, which is the term 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.120 that's often used for it, whoever gets their loved dart 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:52.000 into their mate, they're going to increase the odds that 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:54.799 their sperm is going to be victorious inside of that mate. 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.560 That's right. And you know, it is said that most 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:02.960 slugs would probably perfer to be the shanker rather than 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:07.880 the shanky. Evolutionary biologist Rulanda Lang describes the penis thus lee. 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.080 The penis bears four to five large hook shaped spines 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:13.360 at its base in a crown of twenty to thirty 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.880 minute fine pointed spines at its tip, which are spread 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.400 like an anchor during mating. So there's still a question 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.040 as to watch lugs will allow themselves to be penetrated 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.320 beyond the amount needed to get the stores of sperm. 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:27.880 Because this happens, right, they get the storm stores of 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:30.280 sperm that they need, but they still engage in is 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:33.240 what we think of as a very vicious act um 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:37.440 and it doesn't really increase the reproductive fitness to do it, 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.040 but they still engage in it. So the idea is 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.880 that perhaps the injections of prostate fluid might include nutrients 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.520 that benefit the stab slug, So it's a bit of 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:49.320 a trade off there. Yeah. And there was this old 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.880 idea that the love dart was injecting calcium into the 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.880 mate and therefore making a giving it a gift kind 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.600 of a dowry, uh and staying here, here's some calcium 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:03.120 us this to create the eggs that we have created together. Um, 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.080 But I think they've kind of shied away from that, 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.000 going more in this hormonal direction that it's uh, it's 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:13.360 enabling this better chance of survival for the stabbers sperm again, 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.720 reproductive fitness being the most important thing. And just as 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:20.240 the you described the penis and pretty horrific terms, uh, 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:25.520 the love darts, which are also called gypso bellums, Um, 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.160 they vary a great deal as well. You can find 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:31.840 images of these and they look like varying cruel harpoons, 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:36.480 and and they're made of different substances. Sometimes it's calcium carbonate, 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:41.120 sometimes it's cotton um, various shapes and sizes and uh, 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:46.199 they can also vary between one and thirty millimeters in length. Um. 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:48.560 Sometimes it's more of a just kind of a stab 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.400 in the side like a prison shiving. Sometimes the love 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:55.120 dart goes all the way through, uh, the the mated slug. 0:08:55.720 --> 0:09:00.080 It's um, it's it's pretty fascinating and um it. We 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.199 call it a love dart in English, but in Germany 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.839 they call it a leaves field or love arrow. And 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:08.960 there's some there's some people that that argue that the 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:13.800 idea of Cupid and his arrow is ultimately um inspired 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.360 by the love dart, even though the love dart again 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.040 is just a it's a stabbing, more of a lance 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.120 or a dagger in the side rather than anything that 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.199 is actually a projectile. Yeah, and they do come in 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.520 in various shapes. Um. Some look like spears. I thought 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:30.840 one actually did look like a graboid as well. So 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:34.880 it sort of depends on this species most some have 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:39.080 just one um dart sack. Some have more than one. Uh. 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.199 And then after they have used it takes a while 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:45.079 to grow it back to re reload the gun as 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:48.760 it were. All right, um, let's take a quick break 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:50.840 and when we get back, we are going to talk 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:54.520 about the love lives of leopard flugs. And you really 0:09:54.520 --> 0:10:04.280 don't want to miss this, Alright, We're back. Leopard slugs 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:08.120 um now the very white yeah kes the berry wide again. 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:12.679 The leopard slugs. They really make a show. They're they're 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:16.360 really about putting on a show of their love for 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:21.800 anyone who may be able to watch in stomach this nonsense. Yeah, alright, 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:25.880 imagine these leopard slugs. They're nocturnal. They're grayish yellow with 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:29.400 modeled black spots, hence the name leopard slugs. They measure 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.520 about four inches long. Uh. Let's say that they're cruising 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.640 through the forest. They pick up a scent in another 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.800 slugs trail. They read the love poem and that that 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:42.920 slug slime. Yes, come on, I don't know, is that 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:46.920 very when? And so they follow it. They find this 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:50.160 other slug and they stalk each other in a circle, 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.240 again using their scent trails. And then they say, hey, 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.760 let's take this up to a more private area. They 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:58.520 go up a tree. They find a nice little tree branch, 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:01.520 and that's when thing start to get a little bit weird. 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:06.520 They begin to intertwine. It's quite beautiful. And as they 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:11.959 are intertwining, they form a rope of mucus that comes 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:16.040 down start to slay like imagine this rope of mucus 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:19.920 extending from the branch, and then they continue intertwining together 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:23.960 and they're suspended like that for a little while in 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.600 this gooey embrace. Now, then the penises come out. That's right, 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:30.520 as gonna say. If that's not the head, the side 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:36.760 of their head, their penises are basically emerging, and they 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.520 begin to glow blue. Yeah, and these are these are 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:43.760 large phouls is um comparatively um like for a human. 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:46.199 It would be like a like a baby's arm coming 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.199 out of the sides of your head, or no larger 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:50.360 than a baby's arn't like a like an eight year 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:52.880 old army. So now I'm asked to say, I'm a 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:56.240 little bit g right that you used that analogy, but 0:11:56.360 --> 0:12:00.360 it's effective to give you some idea of scale. So 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:06.840 then these uh, these head placed penises begin to do 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:11.079 the same, execute the same intertwining configuration right this embrace, 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:17.360 and you see this glowing blue penises entwined and moving 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:21.720 until they bloom into a pulsating blue flower like globe 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:27.120 that's translucent. Yes, it's really alien and oddly beautiful to behold. 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.640 It's it's it's really weird. Now, the reason that they're 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:33.199 doing this big light show, this big circus slay. Hey, 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:36.680 look at us, you know, intertwined getting it on um 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:40.320 is that they're passing sperm to and fro and that um, 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:44.199 that sort of flower configuration because again there hermaphrodites. They're 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:47.520 both male and female. And it's just amazing because I yea, 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:50.080 this is this is the attempt to for alize each other. 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:53.840 And it's amazing because it looks like this Toluly sculpture 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:58.880 rights class blown sculpture that's happening before your eyes. But 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:02.440 my favorite part of this is that you have this 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:09.920 entirely intricate, beautiful, disgusting display of reproductive fitness, and then 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:14.920 there's just this unceremonious drop of one of them PLoP 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:17.240 onto the fourth floor, Like you would think that they 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:19.240 would have come up with a more elegant way to 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:23.360 to end it. But it's quite it's quite a sight 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:26.120 to behold. If you wanted to seat yourself, check out 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:30.800 I O nine h Sex Life of Leopard Slugs. Yeah, 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:35.200 I believe they're embedding a video created by Discovery and BBC. 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:39.840 Atinborough narrates it, narrates it, and I want Attenborough narrating 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.560 well anything in the natural world, but especially slugs doing 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:45.920 it because he's got that great wink wink, nudge nudge 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.240 with his voice that he does. So imagine it applied 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:50.760 to this scene of beauty before you and I know 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:52.920 what you're thinking, Well, that's where it ends, right, maybe 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:56.400 this uh, and we're generalizing the entire vast buffet of 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.000 slug sex in this. But you begin with a little 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.040 gentle stabbing. Then you you go up into the trees 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.760 and you you intertwine, and you intertwined penises and create 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:08.600 a glowing flour and swap sperm and you think, well, 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:12.800 then then you're done. Right, not necessarily because in some 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:19.400 slugs you see something that we call apophylation, which is, uh, 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:22.040 maybe not as sexy as it sounds. This is when 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.600 one slug choose the other's penis off. Occasionally we'll shoo 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:30.720 its own penis off and swallow it. Yeah, that's auto apophylation, 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:34.920 auto appophilation. Yes, So what is all this sexual cannibalism? 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.640 What is it about? Right, because we've we've encountered we've 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.440 talked about sexual cannibalism before, where you have like the 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:43.360 female will eat the male or part of the male 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:46.760 following mating. Sometimes because Hey, the male was only there 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.480 to mate, and then once he's done, there's no sense 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:51.200 keeping him around. Might as well make a meal out 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.120 of him, right, female or spiders right right? In this 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.800 case though, these are these are amaphrodites. So what's what's 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:02.040 going on here? Well, these these banana slugs in particular, 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:04.720 of course called banana fligs because of their yellow color 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:09.240 and their occasional black spots. Uh, they're not entirely sure 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:12.400 why the chewing is going on, but let me just 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:14.160 kind of give you a little bit of information about 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.680 these guys. Uh. They are the second largest slug in 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:20.800 the world, so imagine that. Imagine that when you start 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.520 to talk about the slug penis, which is usually the 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:27.400 length of the slug itself. It is also the official 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:31.560 mascot of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Really, really, 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:35.400 they're the banana slugs. Oh God, I assume they don't 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:37.680 have a sports program like this has to be just 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.040 like chess club or something. I don't well, but or 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:43.120 the more mild school. I just can't imagine like a 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:46.000 football mascot of the banana slug. I mean, it's better 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:48.200 than a dog, I guess, but I mean it would 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:50.680 inspire fear in the competitor, right, like I'm gonna chew 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:53.080 your penis off. Yeah, if they really want all out 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.280 with it, I guess it would work. Yeah yeah, um okay. 0:15:56.640 --> 0:16:01.440 It's scientific name is dolly phallus, which means one penis. 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:05.520 So what we find when we look at slugs getting 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.360 it on is that again they find each other via 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:12.640 the chemical traces in their slime trail. They make a 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:17.160 bed of slime to cuddle on. Essentially, there's some head waving, 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:20.120 they get very close to each other, and then they 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.960 begin to actually, when I say they get close together, 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:27.840 they're in a gangyang configuration. Um. Then they began to 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:34.680 gently bite gentital openings of each other. So what happens 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:40.000 next is they their penises spring out from their heads 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:43.400 and they insert the penises and the nearby genital splits, 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:48.120 and then intercourse lasts for hours for hours, and then, 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:50.600 with their multiple pairs of teeth known as the radula, 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.560 sometimes one or both of the slugs gnaws the penis 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:58.960 off the other. This is the appiphiliation. So the idea 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:01.920 at first was that they were doing this because the 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:07.040 penis was getting stuck and I ran across that that 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.359 theory that they were their intertwined is like, how do 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:11.040 we get out of this? Well, we could bite through 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.040 these penises and then they do. But but the but 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:18.280 what we're really getting down to ultimately is again sexual conflict, right, yes, 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:20.520 because it's not about that, because actually what happens is 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:22.480 that the penis, when it is not erect, it's not 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:26.040 a problem for it to pull out. Okay, again, imagine this, 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:29.200 This penis san is the length of the actual banana 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:33.240 slug itself. So, uh, they do think it has to 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:37.760 do with this idea of Okay, well, I'm gonna chew 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.880 your penis off and I'm going to ensure that my 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.840 sperm from now on is the main deal out there. 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:46.200 I'm going to remove you from the playing field. Yeah, 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:48.760 it's like, yeah, it's it comes down to sexual conflict 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:52.040 because every slug is both male and female. But then 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:53.719 after the mating is done, Yeah, if you can, if 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.520 you can bite the penis off of the other slug, 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.320 then you have taken a male competitor off out of 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:03.200 the out of the game, while leaving a perfectly functional 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:06.440 female slug out there for what you know, for for 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:12.080 public use. So it's it's pretty amazing stuff. Yeah. Now 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:15.880 I saw one of the videos that had the uh, 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:20.280 the case of auto appiphiliation and uh, and this one 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:22.560 was a situation where the slug engaged in sex and 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.200 then they went off without chewing penises off, because sometimes 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.040 that happens, like sometimes there's no penis chewing off and 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.160 when a when a penis is chewed off again, it's 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:35.080 still a perfectly functional female slug. So it really doesn't care. 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:36.480 It's kind of like, all right, you got me, but 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:39.520 I'm gonna go on carry out out my business now. 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:43.800 But in this one example, they were looking at the 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.159 the slug had survived, its penis was still intact, but 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.080 it had not retracted, and so the slug just turned 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:52.600 and bit it off and ate it down. So they 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:54.960 really weren't sure what to make of that. But maybe 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:58.560 there's something not functioning there. It decided, well, I'm not 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:00.320 just gonna walk around with this thing sticking the side 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:02.080 of my head. I look kind of stupid. I better 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:07.040 eat it. Do you think slugs will could experience phantom 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:10.560 limb I get the impression they don't. I get the 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.800 impression there they don't really think that hard about it. 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:16.719 You know that it's that it Ultimately it's like, uh, 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.560 you know you got me, all right, good on you 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:22.960 you ate my penis off. But but I'm still I'm 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:26.160 still a functional female slug. I'm was I'm a hermaphrodite 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:28.679 for goodness sake. So that's right. They can still engage 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.639 in the act. Yeah, yeah, and do so all right, 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:38.439 I mean, guys, happy Valentine's Day. Um, you know, maybe 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:41.359 you're going to go to an intimate dinner with your 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:44.360 loved one and what you will talk about. Maybe you're 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:46.840 going to an anti Valentine's Day party, and this is 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.240 also what you'll talk about. Right, Yeah, if there's a 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:51.439 computer there, look up some some YouTube clips of this 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:54.040 stuff and uh, and we'll try to include them on 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.679 the blog post that accompanies this, uh, this episode, so 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:58.720 you can cue them up and just just step back 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.359 and enjoy some some good times, you know, play them 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:05.080 very white in the background. Watch watch these slugs and 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:08.480 snails stab each other with their their love darts. Watch 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:12.400 them make love on a tendril of slime. Watch them 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:16.280 eat each other's penises off to keep them from doing 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:18.600 anything behind their back and cheating on them or not 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:20.720 that last part. You don't have to do that. No, no, no, 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:23.440 don't do it. I'm just saying you can watch it happen. No, 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:25.320 that's what I mean. You don't know if you're not 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:28.439 into the penis chewing watching. Yes, yeah, and yes, but 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:30.760 do not imitate any of this stuff except for maybe 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:33.159 the if you want to try doing it in slime 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:36.800 I think is lovely. Yes, really, but you're gonna have 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:39.359 a hard time getting getting polymers that are going to 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:42.439 be that sticky that you can suspend yourself from some 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:45.200 of you working in the lab, though you might get 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:47.680 a source or two. Yeah. There. Slime has as we've 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:50.400 discussed in our last episode, slime has a number of purposes. 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:52.240 And if you want to know more about slime, do 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.800 check out that episode trilogy of Slime and you'll learn 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:58.199 all about the various properties. Because slime is ultimately it's 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:00.720 about it's about moving around, it's about look emotion, it's 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:04.800 about communication, it's about defense, it's about offense. It is 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:09.919 it is about protecting an organism against parasites and pathogens. 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.600 It's really a remarkable substance and sometimes it is the 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:17.680 backdrop for love, slugs for love and slugs. All right, well, 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:20.240 I'm gonna, you know, read a quick bit of listener 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:22.920 mail here if we'll call the uh the robot over 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:26.879 all right. This one comes to us from Eric, and 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:28.560 this one's kind of suitable for a kind of a 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:31.680 sexy episode. Uh. This is a response to our Undercover 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:36.840 Cops episode about what happens when we layer our lives 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:39.359 and fiction and what that does to our perceptions of 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:42.720 self and reality. Eric says, I have a friend who 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:45.120 is a female police officer who works undercover from time 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:48.400 to time, primarily as a street prostitute. She gets very 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:51.080 into her role and it's quite convincing. She told me once, 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:53.879 shortly after she started doing this work, a car with 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:56.240 a very familiar face stopped to talk to her. She 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:58.720 was horrified to realize it was her favorite teacher from 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:00.800 when she was in high school. She told me she 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:03.159 felt physically ill when she realized she was going to 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:06.399 have to bust him, likely destroying his career. She was 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:09.000 relieved when he told her that she was way too 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:11.199 smart to be doing this and begged her to let 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:13.159 him help her. He even remembered she'd wanted to be 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:16.239 a cop. When she realized he wanted to help her 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:19.480 get off the streets uh cleaned up. She was happy 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:21.960 to tell him that she was a cop working undercover. 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:24.520 I don't think she has any trouble letting her prostitute 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:27.159