To start things off, I would like to introduce myself. Hello! My name is Amy, I am 13 years old and have a passion for caring for animals. When I am older, I would like to concentrate my education on becoming a exotic vet. I want to help as many animals I can and help Ubuntu Wildlife Trust. I enjoy learning facts about animals and want to share with you some of my favourite animals facts. I hope to inspire other people my age and younger to care for animals and to help protect them.
I hope you enjoy my first #factfriday!
The Giant African Land Snail
These aren’t the average sized snail that you’ll find in your garden. Despite their slow, slimy appearance, Giant African Land Snails are fascinating and interesting to learn about.
Scientific name: Achatina fulica
Habitat – Native to East Africa
Diet – Omnivores, In the wild they will eat a variety of plants, fruits, vegetables and flowers. They also like to eat insects and worms which gives them protein.
Size – The shell of a Giant African Land Snail can reach over 7 inches in length. An adult can weigh up to 600 grams.
Lifespan – They have an average lifespan of about 5-7 years. When they have enough food, calcium and the climate is good, they tend to live much longer. Some of them have been known to live up to 10 years.
- The Giant African Land Snail is one of the largest terrestrial gastropods.
- They have the ability to fully retreat into their shell if they feel scared. It is like they are carrying their entire home around with them.
- The body has two short tentacles and two long ones where their eyes are. They have terrible eyesight so the tentacles are important to help them know their surroundings.
- Giant African Land Snails don’t exactly have teeth, not like ours anyway. Instead, they have a rough tongue with hooks on which scrapes off tiny bits of leaves, fruit and other foods which the snail can then eat.
- The Giant African Land snail has the most ‘teeth’ of all snail species with a whopping 25,600.
Invasive little trouble makers
- African Land Snails are considered one of the top 100 most invasive species on the planet since their diet can consist of 500 different types of plants. This means that no matter where they end up, they can usually thrive, taking huge chunks out of agricultural fields.
- These huge snails were originally from the hot and humid parts of East Africa. Through importation, the Giant African Land Snail has made its way to every continent except Antarctica.
- All species of snail are hermaphrodites, which means that they have both male & female reproductive organs. So, what does this mean? Well, single snail can produce 1200 fertilised eggs per year. Giant African Land Snails can take over an environment… quickly!
- In the USA they were imported to be used as pets. They are now banned in some parts as they are so invasive, and it is easy for them to become huge pests. Who would have thought snails could cause so much trouble.
I hope you enjoyed my fact friday for kids. I will be back with more fun facts in a couple weeks. Until then, I will hand over #factfriday back to the adults.
