THE VARIED ROLES OF SNAILS - National Universities Commission

contracts and expands and this creates a kind of rippling
movement that pushes the snail forward. The “foot” has a
special gland that produces slimy mucus to make a slippery
track. You can often see these silvery tracks in the garden.
The slime comes out from the front and hardens when it
comes into contact with air. The snail is able to move on
very sharp pointed needles, knife, razors and vines without
being injured because the mucus-like secretion helps to
protect its body.
The garden snail travels about 70 cm every 3 minutes-that’s
1 km every three and a half days.
Many snails are both male and female. Therefore, it can
produce sperms and eggs at the same time! However, to
fertilize the eggs, the snails need to exchange sperms with
each other. An animal that is both a male and a female is
called a hermaphrodite. This method of reproduction comes
in very handy as these snails are very slow moving and
don’t like moving around too much. If they had to go
looking for a boyfriend or girlfriend, it could take them a
very, very long time to have babies.
The brown garden snail lays about 80 spherical shaped
white or yellowish coloured eggs at a time into the topsoil
of the ground. It can lay eggs up to six times a year. Snails
take about 2 years to become adults.
Snails have many natural enemies. They include ground
beetles, snakes, toads, turtles, and birds, including
chickens, ducks and geese.
The largest known land snail is the Giant African Land
Snail. It can weight up to 2lb (900g) and measure up to
15.5 inches (39.3cm) from snout to tail.
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