Jan 3, 2011

Cupid's slimy darts


There's an excellent slideshow at The Guardian of new species discovered in 2010, quite of a few of which are admirably ugly.

Here's one in particular that we definitely shouldn't have missed. Reports of this long-tailed slug from Borneo at first make it sound kind of cute. It supposedly likes to wrap its long tail around itself while resting. Don't you wish they had taken a picture of that? Doesn't it sound sort of adorable?

That's before you read on and discover that the mating behavior of this slug should probably be featured on my other blog. Courtship involves harpoon-like "love darts" made of calcium carbonate which are used to pierce a mate and inject a hormone. Nasty behavior indeed!

Your shocked and disgusted friend,
-Wombat (No Relation)

2 comments:

Katie Kleber said...

seeing the tail-wrap would be cute, but not the "love darts" thank you for sharing.

Adorably Dead said...

I am completely agreeing with Kate The Kid.