franceslievens | "Let's do it! Let's make love..."

A documentary by David Attenborough (Life in the Undergrowth) got my attention yesterday and I was sucked into the strange world of those little creepy crawlers we usually don't want to have in our home or back yard: slugs, insects, spiders, centipedes... Attenborough showed once again what a great documentary maker he is. The strange beasts that came into view weren't repulsive*, but interesting and fascinating. The sensuality of mating leopard slugs never occured to me. Still the way they're filmed and the music that's put on these images, makes the wriggling and twisting and turning of those slugs into an erotic act. Au moment suprème – the actual having of intercourse – they're hanging upside down from a tree branch, attached to it with a slime thread. It's incredibly moving to watch. Until it's all over and the slugs let themselves fall to the ground.

Want to watch? Check out the video on the BBC-website. You need a RealPlayer plugin to be able to play it.

*Except maybe for the fore-arm long centipede that eats bats.