the.com/snail
a creature that builds its own home, then refuses to leave it ever
means a soft-bodied gastropod mollusc that carries a coiled shell on its back and moves slowly by gliding on a muscular foot.
from From Old English 'snægl,' a shrunken cousin of words across the Germanic family (Old Norse 'snigill,' German 'Schnecke'), all tracing back to a Proto-Germanic root meaning roughly 'to crawl or creep.' The same ancient sense survives in 'snake' and 'snail's' near-twin the 'slug' — a whole crawling clan named for how they move, slowly, low to the ground.
- teeth count
- thousands of teeth on a tongue-like radula
- speed
- roughly 0.03 miles per hour, unhurried
- slime trick
- mucus lets them crawl over razor blades unharmed
- hibernation
- can sleep for up to three years
- love darts
- some stab partners with calcium 'darts' before mating
giant african land snail — invasive species that can grow to 8 inches long and has devastated crops across florida, hawaii, and southeast asia
roman snail — helix pomatia, endangered edible snail protected by eu law, eaten as escargot in france
cone snail — conus geographus, venomous marine snail in indo-pacific with a harpoon-like tooth that can kill a human in minutes