The Slugs and snails

Uuurrrrggghh! The feeling of a cold, damp, slimy slug on your

skin is repellent. Slugs and snails feel this way because of

the sticky, slippery slime that oozes out of them wherever they go. We also find their soft, squishy bodies horrible when we accidentally step on and squash one.

WHY SO SLIMY ?

Slugs and snails secrete most of their slime from the underside of

their tough, crawling “foot”. It lets them slide along smoothly and

helps them to climb up walls and plants on which they feed. They

also have slime all over their bodies, which is good for slipping

out of the grip of hungry birds.

HMM , WHO ’S BEEN HERE ?

Snails and slugs can sniff each other’s slime to find out which

species they each come from. This helps them find a mate of

the same species as themselves. You can see the slimy undersides

of these two snails as they coil around a plant stem.

Both snails and slugs have eyes on the ends of two feelers, or “tentacles”.

SNAIL SNACKS

Snails are a well-known favourite food in France, where they are

baked with garlic butter. They are also a popular food in parts of

Africa, where the giant African land snail can grow up to 20 cm

(8 in) long.

photo credit to http://www.ilmacaone.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/at.jpg