When snails attack
On my way to my car last night I righted an upside down snail. When I got home, I came across his squashed carcass, and felt a twinge of sadness.
I don’t want to touch snails, but I always feel so sorry for them, being slow and unable to run from danger. (I also harbor some residual guilt from my days as a childhood snail-salter. Oh god, I felt bad just typing that.) Then, the other day, I saw this snail:
…and I thought, “Oh no, it’s a deformed snail!”
Thus was my pity stirred, because here was a snail that was not only slow and unable to run from danger, but also handicapped!
Then I got to work, and saw that there were a whole colony of these same deformed snails in the bushes outside of our office. Turns out they are their own species called decollate snails. Wikipedia excitedly describes them as “PREDATORY LAND SNAILS”, as they hunt and feed upon the regular garden-variety snails.
In fact, you know those slimy little snail trails that normal snails leave behind? Wikipedia says that decollate snails use them to catch the scent of and track the normal snails. TO EAT THEM.
I don’t mind telling you I got a bit of a chill reading that.
I’ll admit, I never expected to see “predatory” and “snail” in the same sentence. That is the single most awesome random fact ever.
Awesome. Just one question: how did you identify your snail?
The most scientific way possible: I typed “snail” into Wikipedia and then clicked until I found something that matched what I’d seen. ;)
“childhood snail-salter” … as a word person, that’s a satisfying combination of sounds…it’s also not quite a tongue-twister, but close. ‘Tis neat.