Mythbusting
Really, I just have a bunch of photos to post, but I will say a few words first, to debunk the myth of the slowness of snails.
I have a colony of snails living and growing in a goldfish bowl in my kitchen. It started with one snail, whom I harvested from my friend John's tank because I thought it was cute. I managed to keep it to one snail only for months (this particular kind of snail breeds asexually), ritualistically culling unwanted eggs, and watching him/her grow bigger and cuter everyday. Then one day, I guess I missed a batch of eggs, because BAM! there was like 80 of them sliming around in there. So I have given in, and continue to let them procreate to their heart's content. They are really cute.
I decided to take some pictures of them the other day. Snails are really fascinating up close, and I wanted to try to capture some of their characteristics with my macro-lens. They have little mouths that are constantly scrubbing the sides of the tank, plants and rocks. They have little eyes, which aren't, contrary to popular depiction, at the end of their "feelers", but are on their faces. The "feelers" are just "feelers", as far as I can tell. Hmm...what's the technical term for a "feeler"? It's not quite an antennae...not really a horn...somewhere in between. And they have beautiful, one-of-a-kind patterns on their shells, which grow with them, over the months. They start of about as big as a pin head, and the largest I have seen gets to be about the size of a blueberry.
However, I was entirely unsuccessful in my attempts to photograph them. The little mofos refused to sit still. In fact, come to think of it, I have never, EVER seen a stationary snail. I think, like sharks, they never stop moving. Or maybe mine are just really high strung.
...And the little s.o.b.s are FAST! You know how everyone sterotypes snails for being slow--"inching along like a snail"; "going at a snail's pace" etc? Well it's not true! Snails are speedy. I bet if you did some kind of comparative analysis on snails-- speed vs. size vs. distance covered-- you'd discover they're nearly as fast as humans. Maybe not, like, Usain Bolt fast, but definitely mall-walking-granny fast. Or faster. I was duly impressed, and so should you be.
So excuse the blurry photos. What can I say? They were just too damn fast!
I have a colony of snails living and growing in a goldfish bowl in my kitchen. It started with one snail, whom I harvested from my friend John's tank because I thought it was cute. I managed to keep it to one snail only for months (this particular kind of snail breeds asexually), ritualistically culling unwanted eggs, and watching him/her grow bigger and cuter everyday. Then one day, I guess I missed a batch of eggs, because BAM! there was like 80 of them sliming around in there. So I have given in, and continue to let them procreate to their heart's content. They are really cute.
I decided to take some pictures of them the other day. Snails are really fascinating up close, and I wanted to try to capture some of their characteristics with my macro-lens. They have little mouths that are constantly scrubbing the sides of the tank, plants and rocks. They have little eyes, which aren't, contrary to popular depiction, at the end of their "feelers", but are on their faces. The "feelers" are just "feelers", as far as I can tell. Hmm...what's the technical term for a "feeler"? It's not quite an antennae...not really a horn...somewhere in between. And they have beautiful, one-of-a-kind patterns on their shells, which grow with them, over the months. They start of about as big as a pin head, and the largest I have seen gets to be about the size of a blueberry.
However, I was entirely unsuccessful in my attempts to photograph them. The little mofos refused to sit still. In fact, come to think of it, I have never, EVER seen a stationary snail. I think, like sharks, they never stop moving. Or maybe mine are just really high strung.
...And the little s.o.b.s are FAST! You know how everyone sterotypes snails for being slow--"inching along like a snail"; "going at a snail's pace" etc? Well it's not true! Snails are speedy. I bet if you did some kind of comparative analysis on snails-- speed vs. size vs. distance covered-- you'd discover they're nearly as fast as humans. Maybe not, like, Usain Bolt fast, but definitely mall-walking-granny fast. Or faster. I was duly impressed, and so should you be.
So excuse the blurry photos. What can I say? They were just too damn fast!
posted by katherine at 2:16 AM
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