Some viewers were left uneasy after watching a violent sex scene between slugs in Sir David Attenborough’s latest nature programme.
The five-part BBC series Wild Isles provides an insight into the wildlife found throughout the British Isles, but the most recent episode concentrating on Woodlands was, to say the least, eye-opening.
It featured a passage set in Dartmoor National Park that Attenborough described as a “dream-like scene playing out under the Midsummer moon.”
An ash black slug was seeking for a companion as he recounted.
Attenborough described these as the “largest land slugs in the world,” measuring up to 30 centimetres in length and found almost exclusively in ancient damp woodlands.
‘On this damp night, this slug is looking for a partner,’ he continued.
‘Their slime carries powerful chemical symbols and the scent is a powerful invitation to another.’
As love music played, two slugs began mating by mounting the treetops to “become more intimate.”
‘They nuzzle to make sure they are suitably matched,’ the broadcaster said.
Slugs are hermaphrodites because they have both male and female sexual organs.
Attenborough continued: ‘The overhanging branch provides a hold for the consummation and twisting together they hang down as one and two penises start to protrude.’
‘Entwining together each become as long as owners body and each slug now passes a package of sperm to the other.’
While this was going on, a spine-tingling slimy sounds could be heard.
When the deed was done, Attenborough said the end of the relationship was ‘abrupt’, with the ‘leftover slime only evidence encounter ever happened’.
Some viewers, clearly caught away by what they had just witnessed, expressed their surprise on social media.
‘If the sound of slurping is an issue… DO NOT watch David Attenborough’s Wild Isles,’ one person posted.
‘The slug sex scenes are quite graphic… from both a visual and auditory perspective.’
Another wrote: ‘Currently hiding behind my hands during the foot long slug sex scene. I’m taking Dartmoor off my travel wish list. Sorry Devon.’
At the start of his new series earlier this month, Attenborough asked the public to “go wild” in order to preserve “nature in crisis.”
The 96-year-old naturalist said it was ‘easy to feel overwhelmed or powerless by the scale of the issues facing our planet, but we have the solutions’.
People have been encouraged to ‘go wild once a week’ as part of a campaign by WWF, the RSPB, and the National Trust to stop the degradation of UK wildlife. This may include planting wildflower seeds, eating more plant-based cuisine, or getting involved in community initiatives.
Wild Isles is streaming on BBC iPlayer.