World_of_Animals_Issue_46_2017

Fastest
Garden snails are secret speedsters
The world’s speediest snail uses special tactics to get around ‘quickly’
Archie the garden snail holds a Guinness World Record for
speed, having completed a 33-centimetre (13-inch) course
in two minutes. When the numbers are crunched, that boils
down to 0.01 kilometres (0.006 miles) per hour, which sounds
extremely slow. In reality, it is slow, but this snail species uses
techniques to navigate its environment better than any other.
The two types of movement in land snails are crawling and
loping. Garden snails crawl across flat surfaces secreting a
characteristic trail of lubricating mucus as they go. In times of
dry weather, to prevent water loss, snails will touch the ground
The Latin name for the
common garden snail is
Cornu aspersum
Biggest
Extreme snails
with only a few parts of their ‘feet’, thereby conserving as much
of their vital mucus as possible. This is known as loping, and
snails also do this when trying to evade a predator.
When retreating a snail can either hide in its shell or burrow
underground. Sticky mucus helps it seal itself inside its spiral
chamber or stick the whole of its shell to the ground. When
under soil, it uses a sheet of solidified mucus to barricade itself
in, and can shut down its body to stay dormant for lengthy
periods. These hardy snails can even survive temperatures of
minus ten degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit).
African land snails decimate the landscape
This mollusc is very good at doing two things: eating everything in
its path and popping out baby snails
Being big is a great way to avoid
predators, and in order to be big this
snail needs to eat a lot. It’s a herbivore
that feasts on plant matter, and uses its
keen sense of smell to sniff out crops.
Growing snails prefer soft, decaying
fruit, but lose their fussiness with
age. Digestion begins outside the
mouth as the toothed radula
works the vegetation into a
pulp before it’s swallowed.
Very few predators seek out the giant
land snail, but rodents, terrestrial crabs
and even smaller carnivorous snails
have been known to hunt it. This snail is
a survivor and farmers often find that
their crops have been shredded by these
mammoth molluscs. Even in death these
snails have a tremendous impact, as
their calcium shell rots, changing the pH
of soil and altering its potential for future
plant growth.
“Few predators will seek
out the giant land snail”
ACTUAL
SIZE
© Alamy/Paul R. Sterry; NaturePL/Joris van Alphen; Alex Mustard; Georgette Douwma; Thinkstock
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