Friday 23 August 2013

The Life of Snails.

Anybody who watched the six o'clock news tonight might well have seen an item about the life of the snail.   We think of snails as slow, unadventurous creatures who slide across the garden without moving very far.   We couldn't be more wrong.

Scientists fixed small lights to snails' shells and then mapped what happened after dark.   Surprisingly, they moved long distances, spreading out across quite an area.   Speeded up the images created an amazing pattern of movement.

Importantly though, snails carry lugworm which can be dangerous for dogs.   Some dogs love chomping snails up and thus they get infected.

Two lessons to be learned from this I would have thought.   Stop your dog from eating snails (yuk) and don't try throwing any snails in your garden over next door's fence - they will probably be back 'home' by the next morning.

13 comments:

Em Parkinson said...

I often do the second thing....shhhh!

Rachel Phillips said...

I didn't see the News. Why was the life of a snail featured in the main news bulletin of the day?

Gwil W said...

I was descending a steep and narrow mountain path only last summer (2012) when I chanced to meet a snail on its way up! I expect it's almost at the top by now.

Heather said...

My husband doesn't believe me when I tell him that snails thrown over the garden wall (not into the neighbours' garden!) will probably return. I wouldn't mind sharing my garden with one or two but when they invade the greenhouse and mow off an entire crop of seedlings overnight, well then I don't feel at all friendly.

Tom Stephenson said...

Life in the fast lane.

Robin Mac said...

Thank heavens we don't seem to have snails in our garden. Years ago we used to have slugs which I think are far worse. I can step on a snail, but a stepping on a slug just doesn't seem to work! Thankfully for some reason, the slugs seem to have vanished also. Cheers

angryparsnip said...

Your last sentence made me laugh !

cheers, parsnip

Hildred said...

Beautiful header, - not many snails in the Similkameen. Too dry I guess. But nevertheless that is interesting information to be featured in the main news!

Cloudia said...

Very interesting. There must be video?



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Acornmoon said...

Throwing snails over the garden fence? Whoever gave you that idea? ;-)

MorningAJ said...

I throw snails next door. I hope they've eaten their fill before they get home! :)

Mac n' Janet said...

I can live with spiders, snakes, alligators, but not snails. I have a huge phobia about them. Thought we'd have a lot of them when we moved here, but we don't, thank God!

Leilani Schuck Weatherington said...

I know slugs are not the exactly the same as snails, but we had an "interesting" experience with slugs coming in through a small crack in our screen door at night during the summer to eat the cracked corn we kept in a bucket by the back door to feed the birds. Recently a friend borrowed a bottle of beer to feed the snails in her yard and some other "critter" drank it!