Radiolab Snail Sex Tape
76 snips
Mar 6, 2026 
Menno Schilthuizen, an evolutionary biologist who studies snail genital evolution, joins to explore snail mating weirdness. Short, vivid scenes describe simultaneous penis eversion, multi-hour hookups, and bizarre love darts. Snail anatomy, sperm conflict, and the surprising role of dart-delivered mucus in manipulating mates are highlighted in lively, often funny detail.
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See Evolution By Walking Among Snails
- Snails show evolution at human walking scale because they disperse only 1–5 meters, letting researchers observe shell changes across nearby patches.
- Menno Schilthuizen tracked marked snails returning to the same tree months or years later, revealing rapid localized evolutionary patterns.
Genitalia Are Evolution's Fastest Changing Organs
- Genitalia evolve fastest among organs, producing extreme, rapid diversification even between similar-looking species.
- Menno notes that tiny external similarity hides wildly different reproductive anatomy, so researchers dissect to tell species apart.
Snail Mating Is Long Reciprocal Glove Finger Exchange
- Many land snails are simultaneous hermaphrodites that mate cheek-to-cheek, everting internal penises like glove fingers during hours-long copulations.
- Menno observed mating lasting up to a whole night while both partners transfer large sperm packages.
