2011-04-02

Snails Can Sleep for 3 Years



The reason snails sleep is they alike many other animals hibernate. Hibernation means that they sleep when weather becomes excessively cold, this is a necessity in survival. Snails will bury themselves in the ground and close their shells off with their own slime. It is also been known some species of desert snails can do this for years before actually dying.Snails common diet is usually plants and other vegetation. You can find them eating live plants, dying plants, rotting plants, plant bark, fruits, and algae. A snail has a radula located inside its mouth to assist in the grinding of its food. They can also be found eating the chalk off rock to help provide the protein they need for their shells.

A snails habitat usually consists of on land or in water depending on the type of snail. Snails are not usually in need of perfect environments because snails carry their ideal homes and place of safety on their backs.

Snails are preyed on by many different species. But some of these species are: snakes, turtles, chickens, and ducks.

Another common question people ask about snails is, how is it that a snail can move? This is an easy question to answer. Snails have something like a flat foot located on the bottom side of their slime like body's. Their are muscles within the "foot" that are constantly contracting and expanding to create a ripply like movement. It is actually the foot that creates the slippery trail commonly seen with snails, it is an special gland that excretes the slime which hardens when it comes in contact with air. This slime allows snails to travel over sharp dangerous surfaces and still remain unharmed.

The snail also happens to have 4 tentacles even though from the naked eye its usually only noticeable to see 2. The longer tentacles which are located just above the short tentacles. Long tentacles are used for the eyes which are located on the tips of the tentacles, the shorter tentacles are used for smelling and feeling the environment.