Snail Sex

It seems like every animal exhibits unique and interesting behavior worthy of observation. Here is a post about land snails.

Land snails are easy captives to maintain: if your life gets too busy, they are perfectly content to "clamp down" and wait it out until you find the time to feed and water them.

But more importantly they are fun to observe, most of all because they engage in snail sex. Two nights ago, for the first time I observed my snails in the act. (See below photo.) After five minutes of back-and-forth nibbling each other's foot and retreating, they then entwined their sexual organs, which are located along the sides of their heads, and stayed that way for at least 30 minutes if not longer (unfortunately I had to get to sleep and could not time it.)

Here's a relevant and highly recommended clip, via YouTube, from David Attenborough's Life in the Undergrowth.

I've read that snails are hermaphroditic, so then it would seem these two snails of mine are exchanging both male and female sex cells. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)