Leopard slugs engage in a mating routine in Enderby.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Marilyn Anions
July 29, 2025 - 4:00 AM
Enderby farmer Marilyn Anions saw something unusual while out walking her dog early in the morning this summer, and rushed back to her house to get a camera.
Two leopard slugs were suspended by strings of mucus from a long grass stem engaging in a fascinating mating process.
“I saw these white translucent organs they were swinging around at each other, they’re actually penises but I call them reproductive organs,” she said. “The organs found each other and the slugs joined into an umbrella shape and they were twirling around, moving all the time.”
Anions observed the slugs for roughly 20 minutes until they disengaged and parted ways.
“It was interesting, they were kind of grazing on each other’s mucus before departing,” she said.
Leopard slugs disengage after mating on a farm east of Enderby.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Marilyn Anions
Originating in Europe, the leopard slug is an introduced species in North America known for its unique mating ritual, according to The Animal Facts.
Pairs climb onto a rock or tree then lower themselves down on a mucus rope and intertwine their bodies in a counter clockwise direction.
The slugs are hermaphroditic with each having both eggs and a penis that comes out from a reproductive opening behind their antennae that they use to exchange sperm. Following mating one slug will eat the mucus rope.
Sperm is stored for months or years before eggs are laid in the soil in groups of up to 100.
The slugs have an elongated body up to 7.9 inches long covered with slimy mucus and patterned with black spots. A top pair of tentacles are used to detect light while a bottom pair detects smell. They eat fungus, plants, other slugs and animal feces.
The slugs are typically active at night, often after a rain.
“This is the first time I’ve seen them mating, maybe we’re missing a lot of these interesting natural phenomena that happen at night,” Anions said.
These leopard slugs in Enderby are exchanging sperm through organs that protrude through a hole behind their antennae.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Marilyn Anions
To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.
News from © iNFOnews, 2025