Post #14610

<b>Why is snail reproduction so strange? Love in a hermaphrodite society </b> In spring, the chance of meeting Cupid with arrows is greater than ever. And we are not talking about the plump little archer, familiar to us from the masterpieces of the Renaissance. The real Cupid is hidden in the bodies of slimy armored mollusks, melancholy devouring varietal seedlings. Yes, we are talking about snails - they are real experts in matters of love. And today we will learn about the secrets of mastery first hand. First, try to get into your partner's shoes. Snails have no problem with this; most gastropods are hermaphrodites. This means that when two romantically inclined snails meet, both will go away happy and pregnant, having passed on their genetic material to each other. Secondly, love like the last time. Snails are one of the few creatures that know how to please their soulmate for several years, or even for life. One intercourse is enough for mollusks to produce several successful clutches. Thirdly, don't rush things. Snails do THIS for hours. Moreover, most of the time is spent on foreplay. Gastropods bite each other, gently tickle each other with their “antennae” and merge in a savory kiss before moving on to the process itself. By the way, he himself is no less intricate. The reproductive organ is located on the neck of snails and is called the genital pore. During the breeding season, this time swells, signaling to the rest of the snails that they are ready to become friends with the organisms. As soon as such a “friend” is found, the mollusks make a kind of handshake - a process appears from the pore, with which the gastropods penetrate their “comrade”. This is how they exchange seed material. And fourthly, don't be afraid of diversity! Some snails use special lubricants - the mucus literally binds lovers together. And some are not shy about brightening up the intimate process with toys. Biologists nicknamed them “arrows of love.” These are hard, calcium-shaped formations; they serve the snails to stimulate the partner so that the process of exchanging genetic material occurs faster. The size of the process can reach up to 2 centimeters, and there are simply a lot of variations in shape: multi-pointed, spiral-shaped, and dagger-like - it all depends on the species. So it turns out that a simple grape snail is filled with more knowledge of love than most of us. Remember that in the still waters there can be such sophisticated devils that you can also learn from them. - - - - - We have a huge group, which is 11 years old and there are many zoologists who write tons of text every day from the field in which they are specialists. Due to VK’s failed policy towards authors, all this, unfortunately, rests only on rare advertising and your support. You can support the stability of our nervous system with a minimum subscription of 100 rubles per month. You can request support directly through the button in this post. Thank you! <b>🏀