[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSW9kWIRCOQ[/youtube]
Rare footage of two slugs mating from a nature documentary
No, we’re not talking about software bugs (though those viruses can indeed still rear their heads), but good old insects. There are, naturally, numerous scientifically minded sites like bugbios.com throughout the Web, but insects are also finding staring roles in the online entertainment world.
As is true with so much on the Internet, sex is what’s generating interest.
More than three million people have watched a YouTube video documenting the mating rituals of leopard slugs whereby two entwined slugs suspend themselves from a branch and fertilise each other in mid-air.
Titled “Slug Sex,” the video was lifted from the thoroughly impressive BBC documentary series “Life in the Undergrowth,” hosted by David Attenborough.
Highlights from the series (which captured many spectacular sights using tiny cameras) can be seen at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/lifeintheundergrowth/
On YouTube, where so often the most popular videos tease sex or skin, the success of these slugs in love is both odd and perfectly fitting.
Commenters have variously called it the “No. 1 love scene” and sarcastically wondered why YouTube would allow pornography. (The site’s community guidelines specify: “YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content” — presumably referring only to mammals)
The line between insects and humans is further blurred by, of all people, Isabella Rossellini. The 55-year-old actress (“Blue Velvet,” “Death Becomes Her”) wrote, co-directed and stars in a series of eight short films titled “Green Porno.”
The films have been making their way around the festival circuit, first playing at the Sundance Film Festival and, most recently, at the Tribeca Film Festival. In full-bodied costumes, Rossellini plays insects such as an earthworm, a firefly and a praying mantis, and describes their methods of reproduction.
As a spider with six eyes and eight limbs, Rossellini seriously but comically acts out the delicate approach the male spider must take to court a female. It’s a bugged-out video, for sure.
This week, “Green Porno” was posted online at http://www.sundancechannel.com/greenporno, where you can stream the videos.
It was also made with even smaller screens in mind; “Green Porno” is available on mobile phones through Helio — the only time you might willfully put bugs in your phone.
Via Times of India
