• Question: why are snails so slow?

    Asked by anon-193319 to Morwenna, Jamal, iainstaniland, Heidi, Emma, Carl on 8 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Emma Crawford

      Emma Crawford answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      Apparently snails aren’t as slow as we think! There was a study that found a snail could move at 1m an hour, not bad for a small animal.

      You can read more about the study here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/23815582

    • Photo: Iain Staniland

      Iain Staniland answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      You would be slow if you had one foot and had to carry your house on your back! 😉

      Although being sensible Emma is correct it is a case of scale, if you allow for the snail’s smaller size they are not such slow coaches

    • Photo: Carl Heron

      Carl Heron answered on 9 Nov 2018:

      A scientists once wrote: “How can an animal with just one leg walk on glue?”
      The glue being the snail trail or mucus……..so they are pretty cool really.

    • Photo: Heidi Gardner

      Heidi Gardner answered on 9 Nov 2018:

      Snails are so slow because they have to make a slime trail to move on. The slime trail protects them from the ground below which means that they can move over a razor blade without getting hurt, but it takes a while to constantly produce the slime that they need to move.

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