As its name suggests, the Giant African Land Snail is one of the largest snails in the world.
Though it is native to East Africa, it has been introduced in many other places. In many of these places, it has, unfortunately, become something of a pest.
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Though the Giant African Land Snail evolved in tropical climes, it has learned to thrive in more temperate areas and may even hibernate, or estivate during the colder or drier months.
– Appearance –The first thing a person notices about a fully grown Giant African Land Snail is its size.
The animal is almost 3 inches high, can grow to nearly 8 inches long, and can easily fill the palm of a grown man’s hand. It weighs a little over an ounce.
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The largest of these snails was 14.7 inches long. That’s still not as large as its cousin, Achatina achatina.
The largest of these snails, named Gee Geronimo, had a body that was 15.5 inches long, a shell that was 10.75 inches long, and weighed 2 pounds.
In Achina fulica, the shell is higher than it is wide and the whorls turn either clockwise or counter-clockwise depending on the individual, though most snails have clockwise turning shells.
By the time the snail is grown, the shell can have between seven and nine whorls, or spirals. Most shells are shades of brown with attractive stripes and streaks.
The color depends largely on the animal’s diet and environment. The shell of the Giant African Land Snail is famously tough and rich in heavy metals.
Like all land snails, A. fulica’s muscular “foot” allows it to move. Its head has two pairs of fleshy tentacles.
The Giant African Land Snail is solitary and only seeks out other snails when it’s time to breed.
Like most other land snails, it lays down a trail of slime as it moves to protect it as it travels over rough terrain.
The snail is active at night and sleeps during the day after it buries itself in soil. Like all snails that have shells, the shell is used for protection.
The brownish shades of A. fulica‘s shell help camouflage it as well. If a group of these snails get together, they are called a walk, a trail, an escargatoire or a rout.
– Habitat –This giant snail originated in what are now the countries of Tanzania, Mozambique, Somalia, and Kenya and is currently found in much of the world including Asia, the Caribbean, and North and South America.
Habitats where A. fulica flourishes include the coast, the forests, around rivers, shrublands and wetlands, and even cities.
Since the snail doesn’t migrate, this means it was introduced into these other areas, either accidentally or deliberately.
Some people collected them as pets and the snail escaped, sometimes they were brought over on cargo ships or hitched a ride on vehicles, sometimes they were introduced as a food source.
Because one gravid snail can lay hundreds of eggs at a time, it is easy for the snail population to explode in countries where the snail is not native.
– Diet –The snail is an herbivore and will eat an amazing variety of plant-based materials. Biologists have counted at least 500 types of plants that the snail will eat.
It does not care if it is living or dead and will even eat paper. To fortify its shell, it will eat sources of calcium such as pebbles, sand, and bones. The snail has even been seen to eat concrete.
It will eat the dead bodies of small animals. When food is really scarce, Giant African Land Snails will eat their own eggs or resort to cannibalism.
The diet of the snail changes as it ages. Young snails are partial to algae and plants and flowers that are soft or even rotting, though a snail caretaker should not feed a snail decaying food as it may still sicken them.
Older snails prefer fresh, living vegetation, including fruits and vegetables such as cucumbers, bananas, and lettuce. The snail is able to eat such a varied diet because it has a radula, which resembles a long tongue full of serrated teeth. This organ grates the animal’s food and makes it easier to digest.
Are Giant African Land Snails good pets?Those who have Giant African Land Snails as pets do find them interesting and easy to care for, though in many places it is illegal to keep one of these snails as a pet.
They are extraordinarily fecund, and if they get out and find another escaped Giant African Land Snail, the population can get out of hand very quickly.
The snail eats an amazing amount of vegetation from garden flowers to crops and, worse, is a disease vector.
Diseases that can be spread by the Giant African Land Snail include meningoencephalitis and schistosomiasis.
SRC: https://worldnewsroom.info/
