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Why are snails slow? Why is a snail's life so slow? place. Three-toed sloth

To move around horizontal surface the snail does not need mucus at all: it crawls like a caterpillar, bending and straightening alternately sections of its leg in the direction from the tail to the head. And mucus is used only when moving up and down, when you need to either stick or peel off from the surface.

Indeed, how does a snail crawl? The question is far from idle: they are trying to use the mechanism of its movement in robotics and medical instrument making. A remotely controlled endoscope, crawling like a snail, would allow a detailed study of the cavity organs and would greatly facilitate the diagnosis of diseases.

For a long time it was believed that the snail crawls thanks to its mucus. Even 30 years ago, scientists discovered that snails and slugs secrete unusual mucus: it works like glue, but as pressure increases, the mucus liquefies and can flow under the snail’s foot. It was believed that the mollusk from the front presses hard on the surface, the mucus in this place liquefies and rushes back, pushing the snail forward. Something “water-jet”, absolutely true.

Zoologists from Charles III University in Madrid (Spain) doubted this theory.

In their experiments, snails crawled easily on a horizontal surface moistened with water. This led researchers to believe that mucus was not so necessary for movement. To track the snails, scientists used technology developed to study the movement of individual cells (amoebas, immune cells, etc.). After all, snails, like individual cells, solve two problems at once - movement and attachment to the surface.

If you look at a crawling snail, you will notice how waves pass along its leg - from the tail to the head. These waves travel much faster than the snail itself moves. The purpose of the observations was to find out whether the snail lifts its limb from the surface. If the leg were always in contact with the support, even if lubricated with mucus, then the mollusk, obviously, would not be able to move due to its own movements of the leg, and the special properties of the mucus would be very useful here. But it turned out that the snail still lifts from the surface that part of the leg through which the muscular wave passes, and this muscular movement can push the animal forward without the help of mucus. That is why the snail could move on a surface moistened with water.

The caterpillar moves very similarly: it bends its body in the middle, then straightens, leaning on the back, and pushes the front forward. In caterpillars and snails, a section of the body separated from the support reduces friction and facilitates movement. The researchers used a special deformable gel on which the snails crawled. Knowing the force that needs to be applied to the gel in order to deform it to one degree or another, it was possible to estimate the performance of the snails.

At the same time, snail mucus still finds application - when moving along vertical surfaces and “upside down.” Here the mucus acts as a glue, which becomes more or less durable.

Jokes aside, the “slowness” of a snail is directly related to its physiology and way of life. The snail has a too slow metabolism, it only eats leaves, and it moves mainly only at night (there is no sun) - thus, the snail simply has LOW ENERGY to make fast movements. Like, for example, the three-toed sloth (same story - leaves, little sun... so he sleeps after each meal for 10 hours to gain energy)
Well, and...a canonical text about snails for lovers of living creatures...:)))))))))))
The grape snail (the largest snail from the helicid family) is widespread in the countries of Southern and partly Central Europe, Western Asia and North Africa to Algeria. The shell of this snail, cube-shaped in shape, reaches a height of 50 mm with a width of about 45 mm and forms 41/3 rapidly expanding whorls, which end in a wide mouth. On a light yellow-brownish background, there are usually wide brown stripes along the whorls, the degree of expression of which, however, is very variable, so that you can find specimens completely devoid of these stripes, with a uniform color; the grape snail finds suitable habitats not only in vineyards , but also in lightly shaded gardens, and sometimes on open places. She most often spends the day hiding in her shell and comes out to feed only at night. Its main food is the green parts of plants, and therefore it sometimes causes significant harm by eating grapevines.
Numerous observations have been made regarding the reproduction of these snails, depicting their behavior during the mating period, when they begin the so-called “love game” characteristic of many land lung snails. The snail's desire to mate is immediately apparent in its behavior. She crawls slowly, as if in search of something, often stops halfway and waits for a long time in one place, slightly raising the front part of her body. If two such snails accidentally meet, they immediately begin the “love game” that precedes the act of fertilization. With the onset of autumn cold weather, the grape snail prepares a winter shelter for itself by digging a hole in the ground, where it lies down. hibernation. She digs a hole with her foot, the sole of which is pressed tightly to the ground, and makes movements similar to crawling with force. If the soil turns out to be too hard, the snail flips over on its back and makes the same movements with its foot, raking fallen leaves on top of itself, which it uses as cover. Having burrowed, the snail is drawn into the shell and secretes a winter operculum, the epiphragm, containing lime along its mantle edge. From inside, another second cap is then released from hardening mucus with a porous inclusion - a “window” located opposite the breathing hole. The snail falls into a stupor, but the metabolism in its body does not stop, although it occurs very slowly. The number of heart pulsations drops to one beat per minute. In the spring, before returning to activity, air is first drawn into the lung, and then the winter cap is shed. The total lifespan of a grape snail is 6-7 years.

Photographer Vyacheslav Mishchenko showed the humanity in snails.
“As a child, my father taught me to pick mushrooms and we always encountered a variety of insects. As I got older, my interest in photography grew and I decided to capture these magical scenes with my camera.”
In addition to the frame itself, the photo is complemented by the author’s kind signatures. For him, snails are akin to people. They also know how to love, empathize and fight for their right to live.

Thirst

Snail, my snail.
Open your bright house for me
How is it warm there, I suppose?
And I feel good with you, snail.
Snail, tell me how are you?
What did you eat today, where were you?
Where do you go in the evenings?
Snail, share your secret with us.
Where are you crawling to again? wait,
And a miracle awaits ahead.
You are so beautiful, very graceful
Nobody wants to offend you.
Crawl, crawl my little snail

Claude Monet. "Lady with an Umbrella"

L. Stefanovich

The snail crawls, rests,
Her house rocks on her back,
And how can she not get tired,
Try to drag your house around.
But if the rain starts pouring,
The snail doesn't need to buy an umbrella!

A drop of tenderness that fills the heart

Lovers

B. Pershutkin

I thought it was a snail
unable to run quickly
just crawl, slowly,
quietly rustling leaves...
but the creep is not sickness
for snail- this is speed...
here it is again in front of you,
barely moving, he lies...
no, I was wrong, he’s running!

At the watering hole

And my love lives on the 25th floor

Droplets

A piece of summer.

A big snail hurries along the path,
Behind the clear rain and polka dot sky,
Behind the smell of summer, behind the herbs of May,
For delicious strawberries for breakfast for tea

Snail snail, because autumn is coming soon
Where will you get the spring dew from?
Where can you get July strawberries?
After all, clouds covered the entire sky around

The snail will answer: - I know the path
And to May, and to the sun, and to the polka dot sky
That's where I walk through the frozen slush.
Behind the sun and light, along the frozen grass

I'll bring everyone a piece of summer in a cup
And the smell of grass in the river hayfield
And the taste of strawberries and the chirping of cicadas
for it to be so, I don’t expect a reward

Ushakova I.

Flower petals fell on the sky

Where are you crawling, snail?
Along a thin blade of grass,
Yes, you carry it with you
One-room house?

I'm innocent! He came himself!!!

One breath for two

Poems about snails

Two snails by the pond
They argue animatedly:
Which one is faster?
It will outrun the worm.

I'm a cloud, a cloud, a cloud,
I'm not a bear at all

Poems about a snail

The snail crawls slowly
Swinging on a leaf
The snail carries all day
Your own home.
It's hard for her to wear it
She can't take it off!
The snail needs somewhere to live,
She needs somewhere to sleep!
But no one is a stranger there
It will never get through!
And guards his house
Snail is always good!

Hot day

Tenderness

Snail

Very fast, very quick
A snail runs along a leaf
We would, dashingly, hardly
They ran with the house on their backs!

Lover of beauty

R. Zaitseva

The snail had a most wonderful dream:
It's like she was running a marathon
And my heart beat excitedly,
Not believing that this happened.
But in the morning I woke up, woke up from sleep -
And the snail sees: she is still the same,
Still the same as before, snail -
Small and not very quick.
The snail sighed: “Well, we have to crawl,
Taking care of the children and moving the house -
This is my simple happiness,
But running is a waste of time!"

Seeing off the day

We're going underwater

droplet

CITY OF SNAILS

When it's raining outside
And the world is so fragile and unsteady,
I take my hat and umbrella
And I step into the City of Snails.

Snails are always happy to see me
They are nicer and kinder than everyone else.
They hug and sit next to you -
And now I’m already warmer.

The coquette snail makes eyes at me,
The romantic snail reads poetry
And in return I write fairy tales for them
About all the miracles that I know about.

When it's clear outside
I'm pulling the clouds by a thread,
Because I know - they are waiting for my fairy tales
Pensive snails.

Another world

Turtle Tortilla

I've been crawling along the path all day -
I’ll either release or hide the horns.
I'm in no hurry to crawl home -
Why should I rush in vain?
I always carry my home with me -
And that’s why I’m always at home.

Farewell kiss
Sources:

Everyone understands well that the high speed that animals use is both a means of escape from predators and a means of successful hunting. But our planet is inhabited by numerous creatures for whom high speed has become an unattainable goal, and they actually don’t really need it.

Lifestyle, environmental conditions and structural features do not allow many animals to use high speed at all. They already have a good life, since over centuries of evolution they have developed their own tactics that allow them to survive in a harsh world wildlife. So what kind of animals are these? Which one is the slowest?

1st place. Snail

According to the latest research conducted by scientists, average speed The speed of the snail is about 1.5 mm/s, that is, in one minute it can cover a distance of approximately 6 cm (3.6 m/hour). Such a low speed of movement of the snail is due to the peculiarities of its structure.

Interesting fact: it turns out that these animals need mucus for traction exclusively for moving on vertical surfaces. When the snail moves horizontally, it does not use mucus, although it secretes it: moving horizontally, the snail bends and straightens individual sections of its “leg,” just like caterpillars. With this movement, friction is much less.

2nd place. Three-toed sloth

The speed of a snail’s movement does not surprise us as much as the speed of a sloth, and this is understandable, because a snail is a small creature, and a sloth is a medium-sized animal, but despite this, it also moves very slowly. Its average speed on the ground is only 150 m/hour.

It is worth noting that the sloth is not able to move on land, relying on its paws, like all other animals, due to its long claws. He has to pull up the back of his body, clinging to the surface with the claws of his front paws. At the same time, he literally crawls on his belly. Therefore, his low speed is not at all surprising.

3rd place. Turtles

We often hear the expression: “You crawl like a turtle.” However, these reptiles are not as slow as they might seem at first glance. Many of them can develop good speed, especially for turtles that live in water. Such reptiles are capable of reaching speeds (in water) of up to 25-35 km/h, and if they are semi-aquatic turtles, which sometimes go onto land, then when moving on land their speed is 10-15 km/h.

But the huge sea and land turtles They are really very slow and rightfully occupy 3rd place among the slowest animals. Their large sizes and the structure does not allow them to develop high speeds, which is why they are so slow and clumsy. So, the speed of these giants living on land and in the waters of the World Ocean averages 700-900 m/hour.

4th place. Greenland shark

The Greenland polar shark (lat. Somniosus microcephalus) is another inhabitant of the World Ocean that prefers cold waters. However, it is quite natural that the colder waters this predator swims into, the slower its speed. The mass of the Greenland polar shark is about 1 ton, and the length of the body is 6.5 meters.

Living in such cold waters, it inevitably has to conserve energy and heat, which is why it is forced to move so slowly. Sometimes it even seems like she is falling asleep while walking. The speed of this shark is only 1.5 km/h - and no more. This shark feeds on the famous harp seals, whose speed is much higher, but in in this case she does not need swiftness, since she sneaks up and attacks sleeping seals at night.

5th place. Field mouse

The vole is a small rodent whose body length is only 12 cm. Although the vole is an agile creature that can crawl into any gap, its speed is no more than 4-7 km/h, but despite such a low speed, it manages to run away from her potential enemies, of which she has more than enough.

6th place. Moles

The mole is a small but very strong animal with strong limbs and long claws, which the animal needs to live underground.

Precisely because the mole spends its entire life underground and rarely comes to the surface, its eyesight is poor, but for that reason it has an excellent sense of smell and hearing. Not only does it create a lot of long passages, it also moves along them quite quickly: the average speed of a mole is 5-7 km/h.

7th place. Whale shark

The whale shark (lat. Rhincodon typus) is another inhabitant of the seas and oceans. She is one of the most big fish planet, its length can exceed 10 m. However, despite its impressive size, its speed is low - about 5 km/h. Its diet consists of plankton, so it does not need high speed.

8th place. Virginia opossum

The Virginia opossum (lat. Didelphis virginiana) is a leisurely animal that covers distances at a speed that rarely exceeds 7 km/h. When he is in danger, he also does not accelerate much.

The Virginia opossum has found a more effective defense against enemies: it falls to the ground, pretending to be dead, while emitting a disgusting odor from it, secreted by special anal glands.

9th place. Snakes

Who doesn’t know snakes, because these reptiles are distributed throughout the planet. When we see a snake crawling, we involuntarily think that it is moving very quickly, but in reality this is not the case. The snake's speed rarely exceeds 10-12 km/h; it can be compared to the speed of a fast-walking person.

10th place. Tasmanian devil

Tasmanian devil (lat. Sarcophilus harrisii) is the last (in our list) representative among the slowest animals. He does everything slowly - with feeling, sense, and arrangement.

The speed of movement of these animals does not exceed 13 km/h, and if it exceeds, it is extremely rare. Their aggression and foul smell will scare off anyone who wants to attack them.

Every person turning on pet, must understand that the animal will die after some time from old age, illness or something else. We discussed in detail why snails die in. But today we’ll talk about how snails die and how to understand that a snail has died.

General provisions

Most snails in captivity do not live long, since their life expectancy depends on the conditions of their detention, diet and diseases suffered by them. Land snails Achatina, the most common domestic gastropod, for example, begins to age at about 4-5 years. The shell of the mollusk turns white, appetite and general activity deteriorate. All this is often accompanied by various diseases, which can cause the death of a gastropod.

It is not always possible to detect a diseased snail in advance and begin treatment. There are often situations in which yesterday the mollusk was active and healthy, but today it has gone beyond the turn and shows no signs of life. Such cases are very rare and most are caused by genetic diseases.

In other cases, snail owners see the suffering of their pets, but cannot do anything. The pet dies within a few days, or even weeks. If all else fails, it would be more humane to help it die so that the animal does not suffer, by placing the sick mollusk in the freezer.

Signs of a Dying Snail

How to understand that the Achatina snail is dying is of interest to many owners of such gastropods. This can only be understood by daily observation of behavior and appearance pet. A responsible owner spends time every day with his pets, offering a fresh portion of food, sprinkling the walls of the terrarium with water, removing waste products of pets, and also observing each individual. You can recognize a dying snail by the following signs:

The mollusk eats very little or not at all;
The leg and body become significantly smaller;
The individual becomes very lethargic and weak, and stops crawling. When trying to crawl along the wall of the aquarium, it slides down and does not hide in the shell from touch or other irritant;
Spends more and more time in the sink;
Goes deep behind the turn;
The appearance of yellowish-brown mucus;
The leg hardens, and the snail does not respond to touching it with a toothpick or other sharp object.

The appearance of any of these signs should prompt you to decisive action to rescue a pet.

The mollusk can also seal itself with a lid and hibernate. And then die. For example, this can happen with grape snails. They fall asleep, and when the time comes for all the mollusks to wake up, it turns out that instead of some individuals there are empty shells left.

If the Achatina snail hibernates, then this is a sign that you are not maintaining it correctly. Correct the conditions of detention, and the pet will wake up on its own. Hibernation can harm Achatina and significantly reduce its life expectancy.

The most important sign of snail death is bad smell. If there is an odor coming from the sink rotten fish, then the snail died. Her body is rapidly decomposing, causing fluid to be released from her body cells and collected in her shell.

My pet is dying, what to do?

If the snail goes deep behind the coil, loses weight and practically does not react to touch, then this is a clear sign that the animal is sick. Therefore, you should immediately begin rescuing the mollusk. Whether it will help or not is unknown, but large quantities Experienced breeders can do this, and it can work for you too.

Isolate the sick individual from the rest of the mollusks in a small container for white paper or napkins.

Try to lure your pet out of the sink with a warm bath. To do this, place the patient in a container with warm water for 10 minutes. If you succeed, then offer the snail food, for example, vegetable puree or grain mixture. If she refuses to eat, try placing your pet in a small container of milk or force him to eat by smearing food on the snail's face.

Treatment

Sometimes it is recommended to use metronidazole or trichopolum. These are antibiotics and can be bought at any pharmacy.

For adult it is necessary to use - 1/8 of a tablet, and in especially severe cases - 1/4 part per 700 milliliters of warm boiled water. For young individuals, a lower dosage is used. You need to bathe your pet for about 10 minutes, 1-2 times a day, preferably in the evening at the same time. The pet must first be soaked in warm water if it is behind a coil. Main meaning This procedure is for the snail to crawl and drink the medicine. The course of treatment must be at least 10 days. When using these or similar drugs, keep in mind that you are dealing with an antibiotic, and there is a risk of side effects. For example, there is an opinion that treatment with these drugs leads to the cessation of the ability of snails to reproduce.

It is very important not to interrupt the course of treatment, even if the condition of the cochlea seems to improve. If she gets sick again, the drug you treated your pet with will no longer help, and stronger antibiotics will have to be used.

Very advanced cases use the following:

Ciprofloxacin 1/8 tablet per 0.7 liters of warm water. The course of treatment is 10 days.
Metronidazole and ciprofloxacin, 1/8 tablet per 0.7-1 liter of warm boiled water. The course is also 10 days.

If, despite your efforts, the mollusk goes deeper behind the coil, its body hardens, and liquid appears in the shell, then the snail dies. And if the “aroma” of rotten fish is added to all of the above, then from this we can understand that the snail has died.

Aquarium snails

How snails die in an aquarium is of interest to many aquarists. Aquarium gastropods can die within a few days.

But if a snail lies on the bottom without moving, floats to the surface and does not move, closes itself with a lid, retracts its leg strongly and the lid is not visible, then this does not mean that it has died. Most likely she is stressed from new conditions or she is just resting.

Whether a snail has died is quite easy to figure out.

Remove the mollfish from the tank and look in the shell. A dissatisfied mollusk, if alive, will try to pull the body into the shell.
A living specimen has practically no smell, or has the smell of river water.
A living mollusk can move several centimeters at night.

A dead snail will not fulfill all three conditions. You will not see any movement in the sink; the shutter can be slightly open or sealed tightly. If you still have doubts, then take a sniff - the rotten fishy smell will dispel all your doubts.

A dead snail in an aquarium looks a little different than a land snail. When snails die in an aquarium, their body with the shutter lid hangs from the shell, or if pathological processes have begun and the shell is empty, and the body itself floats in the aquarium or the fish feast on it. A dead snail in an aquarium begins to quickly decompose and spoil the water, so if you see a dead snail, immediately remove it from the water. And if you find an empty shell, then look for the missing parts of the mollusk and remove them as well.

If the snail looks dead, but is not, it means it is unwell. And you should change something.

Snail taxidermy

When a pet dies, the question arises of what to do with it. Owners do the following:

They bury the clam;
Throw it in the trash;
They leave the shell of a dead snail in their collection.

First you need to remove the body from the shell. Several methods are used for this.

Boil in salted water. Then use a fork or other device to remove the body.
Bury 30-45 centimeters into the ground or dry sand for about a few weeks. After digging, the sink must be thoroughly rinsed.
Freezing. It is necessary to place the sink in plastic bag and place in the lower part of the refrigerator for several hours. Next, place the bag in the freezer for 2-3 days. Then fill the bag halfway cold water and place in the bottom of the refrigerator to gradually thaw to prevent the shell from cracking. After about a day, remove the snail's body from the shell using a fork or other object.
Place in an anthill.

So, the hardest part is over.

Next, you should wash the sink with soap, dry it thoroughly and treat the surface with glycerin or baby oil. After this procedure, the sink should be wiped and dried. The sink can be varnished or a nail hardener can be used.

Bottom line

Any pet owner must understand that one day the pet will get sick, become old and die. We tried to explain in detail how snails die and how to help a dying snail. If you have experience in healing dying snails, share it in the comments and also leave reviews. Health to you and your pets.