I took this picture a few years ago and have written to several wildlife trusts, the natural history museum, some random mollusc societies etc and none of them have actually written back, let alone shed any light on this... maybe they think I'm having them on, but I honestly am not! I've waited until well into April so that you guys dont think its april fools either
It was on my 'doorstep' one morning late summer (I think it was). My doorstep is the bank of a canal if thats at all relevent. I wondered if perhaps it was some kind of courtship ritual because of the double tracks, one fainter than the other... but I've never heard of such a thing: I've seen snails chasing each other round and when they get into a tight nose-to-tail circle they make a huge glob of slime in the middle, and I've seen slugs hanging up (entwined) in trees on natural history programmes etc. I even dissected one during my degree and you wouldn't believe the size of a snail's... (cough) ANYWAY, point is, I've NEVER seen slugs or snails going about making beautiful celtic designs on stonework!
Does anyone here have any ideas? I know there are some very knowledgeable people on here and I'd be really glad of an explanation, as at the moment I can't decide if its real behaviour/ a one off phenomenon/ my neighbour is up to strange things in the middle of the night.
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It was on my 'doorstep' one morning late summer (I think it was). My doorstep is the bank of a canal if thats at all relevent. I wondered if perhaps it was some kind of courtship ritual because of the double tracks, one fainter than the other... but I've never heard of such a thing: I've seen snails chasing each other round and when they get into a tight nose-to-tail circle they make a huge glob of slime in the middle, and I've seen slugs hanging up (entwined) in trees on natural history programmes etc. I even dissected one during my degree and you wouldn't believe the size of a snail's... (cough) ANYWAY, point is, I've NEVER seen slugs or snails going about making beautiful celtic designs on stonework!
Does anyone here have any ideas? I know there are some very knowledgeable people on here and I'd be really glad of an explanation, as at the moment I can't decide if its real behaviour/ a one off phenomenon/ my neighbour is up to strange things in the middle of the night.
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