The word for the day is "apophallation." Can you say "apophallation," boys and girls?

[beautifulduckweed]

Nature red in tooth and claw--and, uh, penis.

The slugs (which are hermaphroditic) have relatively very large penises which wrap around each other in a tight spiral. They can have difficulty separating afterwards. Should that be the case, the solution is for the slug to gnaw off either its own, or its partner's penis - making separation possible. No replacement penis grows. The apophallated slug adopts a purely female function.

Either nature is very, very weird and evolved these wacky adaptations as dictated by a harrowing combination chance and expediency, or God has a filthy sense of humor.

Comments

[davethegreat.livejournal.com]

"can you say. . . "

No, after three or four tries, I cannot. Ask me after I have had a few drinks.

[frostmorn.livejournal.com]

"Wrap around each other in a tight spiral"?
Wait...WHAT?!
Next time I have a bad day I must remind myself how lucky I am to belong to a species that isn’t obliged to eat it’s own sexual organs.

This is probably also a very good fact for bringing Creation/Evolution debates to a screeching halt.

I we sure this isn’t a vandalized article?

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

Nope, apophallation seems to be really real--check out this webpage, which as a link to a Quicktime movie of one slug chewing the other's schmeckie off. This webpage has more information on apophallation as well.

Isn't nature wonderful, kids?