The American Medicinal Leech

Well, just this afternoon we were out searching for tadpoles by a filtered lake. We managed to capture a few, which had to be released anyway. The one we did bring home died shortly afterwards. :C We found some snails which were put into our aquarium, and they're getting along fine.

Something quite interesting we found during the hunt was a leech, though it wasn't very big. I placed it into a spare laundry wash cap nearby, with just an inch or so of water. Leeches are flexible, and they always try to  crawl out of anything without a lid on top.

The leech ended up in the front cup holder of our car. It did actually escape after we left our car for a few minutes. It was stuck in a crevice next to the car seat. We had to use a tissue lying on the ground to get it out. The leech swam around for a while, bumping into the wall every once in a while. Sometimes it would stretch for more than three inches, and then swell back down to a center meter. When it wasn't moving, it was usually curled up attaching to the wall.