Hello, I'm the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/
Here's your outdoor tip on snails.
Snails are found in gardens, ponds, and even the sea. They are related to oysters, clams, and other shellfish in the group called molluscs. They have unsegmentated bodies protected by a hard shell. The main difference between a slug and snail is the snail has a shell holding its visceral hump containing its organs. The shell is attached to the body and proves refuge when it is disturbed. Snails are gastropods from the Latin gastro for stomach and pod for foot or belly-footed animal. Snail ancestors are one of the earliest known animals in the world with primitive gastropods living 500 million years ago. Gastropods rank only behind insects as far as the number of named species.
Snails are most active at night and on cloudy days. When disturbed, they withdraw back into their shells. With dry weather, a snail retreats into its shell and seals the entrance to protect its body from drying up. It hibernates in the ground in the winter. They live 5 to 10 years or slightly longer. The largest known land snail was a Giant African Snail found in Sierra Leone weighing about 2 pounds and was over 15 inches from snout to tail.
The eye is on the end of the tentacle or base for marine species. There are two pairs of tentacles on its head. The longer pair has the eyes and the shorter pair is used for smelling and feeling. The snail has a rough tongue or radula in its mouth for grinding up its food. They can cause serious damage to crops eating mostly living plants, but will eat decaying plants also. They chew irregular holes with smooth edges in leaves. They gnaw on fruits and young plant barks.
The snail moves by creeping on a flat foot under its body. It has a band of muscles in the foot that contracts and expands creating a rippling movement pushing it forward. The foot has a special gland that produces slimy mucus to make a tract for it to slide on. You can often see these slimy tracks coming out from the front of its body and hardening when it comes into contact with air. This mucus-like secretion protects its body enabling it to move over very sharp objects.
The snail is both male and female or hermaphrodite. Therefore, it can produce sperm and eggs at the same time. However, snails need to exchange sperm with each other to fertilize the eggs. About six times a year, the grown garden snail lays about 80 spherical white/yellow eggs in the ground. Two years are needed for a snail to become an adult. Pond snails carry their fertilized eggs and the baby snails will only leave their mother after they hatch.
Snails twist around each other and cover themselves in frothy slime as they mate. After mating, they go in search for a soft ground to dig and lay their eggs. Their nest is 2.5-4 cm deep in the soil and the eggs hatch in 2-4 weeks. Low temperatures and low humidity inhibit the snail from laying eggs so they lay mostly during warm, damp weather. Newly hatched snails look for food immediately eating whatever is left of their egg shell and any eggs that have not hatched. The snail develops a spiral shape as it grows with the new shell added at the opening of the shell leaving the new born’s shell in the middle of the spiral.
Ground beetles, snakes, toads, turtles, and birds including chickens, ducks and geese are some of the primary enemies of snails. Pond snails are like garden snails, but many have gills to breath in the water. Those that do not have gills stay close to the surface for air. Sea snails also have some unique characteristics that I’m not taking time to include in this article. Humans can eat snails, but it is best to rinse pond snails with water to wash away mud and dirt.
This is the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/
Additional outdoor tips can be received by subscribing to the Outdoor Professor Tips on iTunes or Stitcher. If you enjoy outdoor tips, you’ll also find an e-book at Amazon.com with a collection of the Outdoor Professor Tips.
References-Additional Reading
Snails and Slugs
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7427.html
All About Snails
http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Snails/
Facts about Snails
Nature Quotient.
eBook @Amazon.com
Outdoor Professor’s Tips: Exploring the Wonders of Nature
eBook @Amazon.com
No comments:
Post a Comment