Trivia question for Mar-25-2011

Olivia picked tonight’s trivia, as only she can do.  My first reaction was to suggest she find something else to feature, but after hearing all the cool facts about these guys that she had found, I realized we can all learn something new… even from a snail.

On the Island of Samoan, the agriculture department actually encourages the local farmers to eat these guys.  Japanese reportedly ate them during WWII.  These guys are mainly found in Africa but have since been introduced into Florida, and some islands of the Pacific where they quickly become a pest.

So here are Olivia’s questions:  What is this snail we featured and how large does it get?  Also tell us why snails are covered in slime?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to Maria and her daughter Nina for being the first with the correct answer to this trivia.  The slimy invertebrate we featured is the Giant African Land Snail.   These guys can get up to 8-inches long and they cover themselves in slime to keep their skin moist.

This species has not yet become established in the USA, but it is considered to represent a potentially serious threat as a pest, an invasive species which could negatively affect agriculture, natural ecosystems, human health or commerce. Therefore it has been suggested that this species be given top national quarantine significance in the USA.

Like almost all pulmonate gastropods, these snails are hermaphrodites, having male and female sex organs. Each snail lays up to twelve hundred eggs per year making its huge size and large population a potential problem.

However this snail is an important source of animal protein for West African forest-dwelling ethnic groups, and commercial farming of these snails holds great promise… Yuk!!!  Anyway, here is more on these large snails: Giant African Land Snail

Thanks for playing along 😉