Snails Reach Top Speeds of 1 Meter Per Hour in Study Using LED Lights
Posted on August 24, 2013
A British snail study using LED lights and UV paint found snails can reach a top speed of 1 meter per hour. 450 garden snails were studied in the experiment. Researchers say snails are fast enough to cover the length of an average UK garden in one night.
Dr Dave Hodgson, Associate Professor of Ecology from the University of Exeter, led the research. Hodgson says, "People love them or hate them. Kids seem to really love playing with snails. Gardeners would rather they weren't anywhere near their garden. These perceptions are neither right nor wrong. Snails are simply there. They enjoy hanging out near humans because we provide them with all the right conditions to help them thrive."
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The study was commissioned as a resource for dog owners. It was commissioned by the Be Lungworm Aware campaign. Dogs are at risk from a potentially fatal parasite spread by slugs and snails, the lungworm Angiostrongylus vasorum. The study makes it clear that dogs are likely to encounter snails in many places in the yard.
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