The Beautiful Life of the Leopard Slug

The Leopard slug has migrated to North America from Europe and much to the dismay of gardeners and squeamish 5 year olds they can be found anywhere from underneath boards and rocks to inside flower pots. The Leopard slug is unusually slimy with an overall tawny brown, a light "sole" and attractively spotted and streaked with dark brown. It is as beautiful as a common garden pest could possibly be.

The Leopard slug is claimed to have an unusually wild sex life. The slugs do not have distinct genders and are hermaphrodites, meaning, more likely than not both will leave the sex encounter pregnant. They will then find a dark, damp spot and deposit about 200 large. clear eggs.

What is interesting about Leopard slug mating is one member of the pair will overhang on a ledge or branch on a long bungee made of their own slime. The pair will intertwine hanging on the mucus and exchange their spermatophores. Fortunately, this ritual is performed exclusively after dark.

Slugs are gastropods and are distantly related to squids, oysters and snails. Did you know Leopard slugs do have a shell? It is hidden each one's mantle and looks like a small fold of skin or a fingernail, but is in fact a vestigial shell. If you stumble upon a Leopard slug on the streets of New York City are brave enough to squeeze it gently, you can feel the evolutionary evidence for yourself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/24/nyregion/the-double-life-of-the-slimy-acrobatic-leopard-slug.html?_r=0

http://www.molluscs.at/gastropoda/terrestrial.html?/gastropoda/terrestrial/limax.html

A Cougar's 1,500 Mile Journey

In Greenwich, Connecticut sightings of a cougar were confirmed in early June by paw prints, animal droppings, photographs, and then by the body of a 140-pound male creature that was killed by an Sport Utility Vehicle. This was a startling discovery because, before this the last confirmed sighting of a mountain lion in Connecticut was in the late 1800's. The mountain lion's origins were determined by the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service Wildlife Genetics Laboratory in Missoula, Montana. DNA testing from the tissue of the animal killed in Connecticut matched DNA samples found in Black Hills region of South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Biologists determined this animals journey to be a 1,500 mile trek. "The travels of a young lion is a familiar pattern called dispersal, in which young males search for mates." Officials say they rarely travel more than 100 miles, it seems to have been a long and serious search for lion love.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/nyregion/wild-cougar-traveled-east-1500-miles-tests-find.html?_r=1&ref=science

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/us-connecticut-mountain-lion-cougar-incredible-journey-hit-by-car