How Snails Work | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio hey and welcome to the slow cast. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's. here too we're just inching along doing. things our own way our own speed our own. time leaving a trail of mucus behind us. as we. do wow inch and along. uh5 Ines per second yeah it's like that.

one guy said life is a highway I want to. ride it all night long covering only an. inch was that the parenthetical of that. title yeah it was it was like you had to. read between the lines yeah exactly what. a great song or play it backwards that. song you think it's great yeah I do I do. if you take away all the it's actually a. great song it's very upbeat and. enthusiastic and very um this just a.

good song who was that I I don't. remember I think that might have been. his only song although now that I've. said that I'm sure he's a huge sensation. in Canada or something and now. everybody's GNA be mad at. us yeah that happens a lot we'll find. out but anyway uh whoever you are out. there who made that song If you're. listening Breton cap off to you that's. right uh Chuck I picked this one uh he. is Canadian by the way I knew it dude I.

how does that always happen I don't know. I don't know what's his name Tom Cochran. I wanted to say Tom but I wanted to say. Tom bro call and I was like I'm not even. GNA bring that up and you know what he's. in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame oh my. God s right so so much for that okay uh. at any rate um hats off Tom Cochran I. think is what I was trying to say right. mhm so we're doing an episode on snails. which I'm kind of psyched about um.

our new good friend Allison helped us. with this one I believe this is her. second one she's doing great yeah was. this a a listener recommendation no this. was a Josh. recommendation okay I didn't know if. this was you know we did some stuff. recently with uh kids in the classroom. like little virtual appearance. appearances for our book stuff kids. should know uhuh and I know we got a lot. of ideas and just for some reason I. thought snails might have been one of. those not a single one of those kids. came up with the idea of snails it was. really.

sad kids these days they don't even know. what snails are snails that was that was. my pick and I'm not sure where it came. from I think I just pulled it out of my. head but I'm glad I did because this is. one of those things where I mean snails. are everywhere everyone knows what a. snail is um like it's just a part of. living on Earth you know about snails. and yet what Allison turned up and I. wasn't aware of when I selected this. there's actually a bit of a dir of. information academic information on.

snails specifically that a lot of what. we think we know about him is actually. just like old Yarns that gardeners have. come up with over the years so I love. topics like that and actually from. researching this I've come to actually. really appreciate snails like I actually. kind of think they're cute now just from. watching them in some. videos well I looked up a picture of the. uh and we'll talk about these in a. little more detail later but that giant. African snail mhm and there was one.

picture of a woman holding one of these. things yeah and I I swear it looked like. a bunny rabbit with a a turtle shell. weird I've not seen that picture it it. looked like a bunny I mean it's a snail. clearly it didn't look that much like a. bunny right I wasn't like what in the. world maybe it was eating a bunny is. that what it was I don't think so uh but. you were right Allison was Keen to point. out that that uh malacology which is.

someone who studies mollusk is just I. guess there's just not a ton of those. people out there so there just tend to. be more people studying you know Furrier. cuter things than snails I guess right. exactly and even if you do have a lot of. malacologists they're studying mollusks. and and snails just make up part of one. class of a larger philm of molesa. they're part of gastropoda and it's not. just snails gastropoda we're talking.

slugs sea slugs con uh welks. limpets basically all snail-like. creatures are in the gastropoda um class. so they're. gastropod yeah or. gastropods okay I didn't know how that. was pronounced so it's got to be. gastropod right I mean I think it's. gastropod but would it be. gastropa no or is it one of those weird. things that just flips when you shorten. it it's that second thing.

okay great so I said also Chuck just. living on Earth you're aware of snails. and there's a reason for that they've. been around for a really really long. time they are. everywhere and you can even if you're. walking around Antarctica and you look. down on the ground you might see a snail. waving up to you wearing a parka yeah. and even if uh you know snails as we. will find out love moisture mhm uh even. if you're in the desert even if you're.

in. Arizona living there in Phoenix you. might see a snail yeah because there's. still random water here and there yeah. plus also some of them have evolved to. like really hang on to their water. better than other times so they can. survive in the desert it's it's just. nuts they're everywhere and as a matter. of fact they think that they um there's. about 150,000 gastropod species in total. and remember that includes slugs and all. that stuff but they think think snail.

species are between 30,000 and. 35,000 and I mean you know we think of. snails as typically a like the little. garden snail maybe the escaro snail I. think that's the Roman snail if I'm not. mistaken um but there are all sorts of. snails you mentioned the the um giant. African land snail those things get I. saw the they get to be about the size of. a human fist or bigger that's a big. snail but on the other and there's.

another type of snail that they recently. discovered in I think Vietnam and. Cambodia on the walls of caves and they. can fit inside like a grain of sand. they're that small but if you look at. them under a microscope they are very. clearly. snails yeah uh I saw about 500 native. species to North America and we're. generally going to be talking about you. know sort of your average land snail but. uh there are snails that live. exclusively in the water under the sea. uh it would you know there's just no way.

we could talk about all the snails so. we're going to mainly concentrate on the. kind that leave that mucousy Trail on. the sidewalk right like we could. probably get through 34,000 species. today but definitely not. 35,000 that's right so we're not going. to try okay so um the other thing that's. kind of like a bummer about snail. species is that as long as we've been. scientifically paying attention to. snails we've recorded more than 400.

extinctions of snail species and um. there's a uh an Atlantic short. documentary I think it's like 12 minutes. long I think it's called goodbye snails. and it's set in Hawaii where they're um. they're experiencing this crazy mass. extinction of their native snail species. that exists nowhere else in the world um. and it's a really kind of a tense little. documentary but the people who are. trying to rescue these snail species and.

prevent them from Extinction are really. doing some amazing work over there yeah. there's about a thousand of them that. are uh land snails alone that are. endangered right now so that's uh that's. a lot of species to be in trouble so. that's that's no good cuz uh as we will. see they can there can be invasive. snails and they can do some harm to the. Garden but they also do a lot of great. things for your garden and for the world. yeah leave the snails. alone you ever eat him I have like once.

or twice I'm not crazy about them no. they're not I'm not a es cargo fan I'm a. fan of that es cargo joke though right. which is uh uh look at that es cargo. what is that what it was uh what snail. painted an s on the side of his car. that's right that's a great elementary. school kid joke yep it's wonderful uh I. was. um trying to remember if I've ever I. feel like I might have tried tried it. one time many many many years ago.

because I do remember seeing snails. floating in a Buttery Solution on a. plate M and I think there was a little. uh tiny Tong yeah that sounds involved. yeah but I really have a very very faint. memory so if I did try it I don't know. under what circumstance it was but it. was a long time ago and it's it's not. something I'd really be into now they. even have like a specialized plate for. serving them and it basically doubles as.

like a deviled egg serving plate too. it's like you know got a bunch of. depressions in it that the snails sit in. right I'd rather have a deil egg uh you. can also eat snail. eggs uh they call it white caviar oh. yeah yeah that's a thing there's uh I. think it's like uh 130 bucks for about. 1.75 o wow wow well that's a lot of. snail EGS now that I think about it yeah. it seems like it I mean it looks like it.

comes in a little tin like caviar but um. although I do love caviar now I don't. think I would try snail. caviar. okay okay I'll accept that answer and. I'm new I know I've talked about I'm. newish to cavar just the past couple of. years so it wasn't something I ever had. until uh semi- recently but now you have. it at dinner every. night I just you've heard of avocado. toast every morning I just have caviar. toast spread it all over the biggest. piece of sourdough I can gold flakes on.

top uh all right should we talk about. the body of a snail yeah I feel like we. kind of have to because there's a lot of. misconceptions people have about snails. including me as far as their body goes. yeah I mean we can talk about their. shell for a little bit uh they have that. well we'll talk about the shell kind of. throughout it's obviously um a. protective device uh snail can pull. themselves back into that shell and uh. they can actually uh put a little uh I.

think it's called an EP. epigram uh and that is like a it's like. a front door basically it's a temporary. front door that they can put on the hole. of that shell so if you ever pick up a. snail shell and it and it's covered with. something that is a a temporary front. door that a snail uses to keep people. like you from poking around into that. snail shell yeah and I saw that some of. them have denticles on there like like. sharp kind tooth likee projections so.

that if a predator tries to come in. there after them they'll get all torn up. oh on the epigram yeah it's like those. reverse um Tire Damage things at like a. car rental parking lot it's like that. from what I understand that's pretty. cool and it also keeps them uh moist. because uh what a snail does not want to. do is dry out because once again a snail. is basically a slug with a helmet on. right so I'd like to talk a little bit. about the misconceptions of how the.

snail body is arranged if we can let's. do it inside that shell is the actual. body of the snail what we see as the. head and the and the tail is actually. the head true but what looks like the. tail is actually like the heel of its. foot that's what it's moving around on. is its foot right single foot exactly. and so above on top of that foot is the. whole body and all that is encased in.

the shell and what's weird is there's. one opening that the uh what did you say. covers the opening the I think it's. called an epigram okay oh I'm sorry I've. been saying epigram epiphragm. diaphragm okay gotcha so what the Ephram. covers is called the aperture and on L. snails there's one aperture there's one. way in One Way Out and because all of. their body is tucked up in the Shell. they've still got to poop they've still. got to breathe they still have to do all. the stuff that requires the outside.

atmosphere um and so what they've done. is theyve figured out how to double. their bodies around so that their head. and their tail including their anus are. basically right next to one another at. the aperture at the opening of their. shell yeah kind of like on top of their. head uh and this is something called. torsion uh which means to twist you know. if youve heard of something you've heard. of torsion before probably yeah Chubby. Checker was going to call his it's the. torsion and he's like it just doesn't.

have the right ring let's do the torsion. right and a traveler from the future. came back at time and um told him no we. should we should call this The Twist. rocked out the high school dance and. that was history that's pretty good did. you did you think of that one beforehand. no oh okay no I didn't I've just gotten. that good this late in the. year I love it uh so yeah that that body. basically doubles back 100. 180° on top of itself and there's a lot.

of debate I mean should we get into that. like the the the great torsion debate. yeah we can at least touch on it sure. it's almost impenetrable if you're not a. malacologist yeah I would say so so as. far as when torsion emerged they're not. exactly sure uh because you can't tell. from like a fossil whether or not a you. know you can find a a a fossil of a. shell but the torsion is happening.

within the shell so you can't really. tell if it's been uh torsioned is that. even a verb I don't know torted I was. going to say torted I didn't look it up. though so I think torted right let's say. torted yeah I think it's torted so you. can't really tell if it's been torted by. looking at a fossil and so there's just. been a lot of debate like obviously this. happened for a reason uh no one knows. exactly what that was and like you. mentioned at the beginning some of the. sort of old farmer Tales one one of. those is you might hear some some.

gardening people say oh well actually uh. their asymmetry inside that shell. provides balance and that's just not. true no no that's definitely not um. there's also uh one that back in the day. when they were all marine animals. because land snails evolve from Marine. aquatic snails um that it was a way to. keep their uh their hind quarters their. tails all that stuff from being bitten. by a predator probably makes sense it.

does make sense it's probably not it. what the two biggest competing. hypothesis are the rotation hypothesis. and the asymmetrical hypothesis and the. the rotational hypothesis the one that's. been around since like 1929 and it. basically says that at some point in the. past um the uh the the snail some snail. mutant came along and twisted around. during its development. and it became naturally selected because.

it was advantageous because it allowed. the snail to retract its head faster. whereas before would have had to retract. the tail and then the head now it could. retract the the head because it's all it. had to retract um yeah but that was just. like a spontaneous thing right that's. what they that's what they think but. it's just such a bizarre thing to have. happen especially in a single mutation. because again what we're talking about. is during the larval Development A. Snail's body. it it count it moves counterclockwise to.

180 degrees and so its circulatory and. nervous system forms a figure8 inside. the shell it's not all just packed in. there straight it's all over the place. and because of that weird torsion thing. the entire right side of its Anatomy. including its organs are just not there. it's all left side organ stuff it all. just got moved over toward the inside of. the shell because the right side is. pressed up against the the the shell. itself and it's all because of torsion.

and they just cannot figure out why that. that would have happened in the past and. clearly it could have happened as a as a. like a mutation it obviously did but why. would it have been naturally selected. for for hundreds of millions of years. which strongly implies that it was like. an advantageous mutation yeah I would. think so right yeah so that's kind of. like this debate that's going on that. that is I mean you really have to. understand snail anatomy and. evolutionary history to to go much.

further in in understanding that debate. that's pretty much what I could glean. from the whole thing yeah and I would. say hesitate even getting into that. debate if you if you've had a couple of. drinks at the bar and you're feeling a. little squirly and you want to dive into. this hot conversation yeah I would St. clear just take a break have another. drink and just relax yeah or maybe it's. time for you to go home right yeah get a. get a car to take you home or walk or or. whatever yeah so that's the careful. snails tort and we're not sure exactly.

why but what we do know the upshot of it. is that their body is double back on. itself and their their anus and their. head are essentially right next to each. other yes exactly uh they also have a. mouth and inside that mouth is something. called a radula uh it's a it has teeth. on it and it's like a it's kind of like. a tongue and uh they have you know if. you look at a snail and they those two. little tentacles to look back at you.

that's because they have eyes mounted on. either one or two pairs of tentacles and. uh they can look at you they they can't. hear you they don't have ears uh from. what I saw snails are are basically deaf. uh but they can see you they can see you. and depending on the species there's. different types of eyes some have very. simple eyes where they can detect. changes in light and dark or maybe maybe. movement but there's some kinds I think. um that have the ability to to to to see.

you to focus on you and because they're. on the ends of those stalks they can. retract the eyes themselves in the stock. and then the stock into the head and. then the head into the shell and then. when they want to see if Danger's gone. they can peek one of those stalks out. from the shell and look around is't that. cool that's pretty cool yeah I love it. uh and there's also the mantle and the. mantle will come up quite a bit and the. best I could figure is that mantle is. that area around the rim of the shell.

that connects the foot and the head to. the Shell itself right yeah and it's. also um whatever holds all of our organs. and guts in place that membrane is very. analogous to uh the mantle tissue of the. of the snail because it holds all the. organs in place but it also does. something really important it secretes. all of the stuff that eventually is. built into the shell itself that's right. so um you are we at the Shell party you. think uh you know what this is a good.

we're 20 minutes in I think we should. take a break cuz that shell formation is. quite a cliffhanger okay and we'll be. right back after. [Music]. [Applause]. [Music]. this. [Music].

all right so we promise to talk to you a. little bit about the shell uh a snail. shell is beautiful you should never ever. ever uh smash a snail shell or a snail. because that's animal cruelty and it's a. terrible thing to do so just don't do it. right uh but ited is basically there's a. little bit of protein in there but it's. mainly uh something called calcium. carbonate mhm and it is like you said.

earlier secreted by that mantle. tissue and it it builds up over time. it's uh if you look at sort of the. center part of that shell that's the. oldest part of the shell uh you can tell. a snail's age by how big that shell is. and that's also the hardest part of the. shell because it's been around longer so. they just keep adding material along. that Outer Edge little by little uh as. it expands outward and that is why a. like the the outer edge of a snail shell. will be. much more you know sort of break than.

the inside harder part that makes sense. so the oldest part is the closest to the. to the center yeah apparently also I. didn't realize this they're born with a. tiny shell already attached they just. grow it over time by secreting St. starter shell exactly isn't that cute. yeah they're born like little tiny baby. snails like that. preformationism uh Theory from our. things we used to believe before the. Scientific Method episode that's right. so I also said Chuck the mantle holds.

the mantle tissue holds all the the. important guts and stuff like that in. place um and the way that snails breathe. is through the mantle cavity they have. blood vessels in there but they they. breathe using kind of like a. primitive I don't want to say long I. think that's kind of a stretch but. basically they have an opening that it's. called a long I've seen it called a long. in diagrams okay so I've also seen it. called a new uh new. and it's essentially a breathing Port.

that they can open and close using their. muscles that takes in takes in air and. exhales air but it's pretty neat and. it's right there next to their head. right there at the aperture where. everything else that needs to be outside. is yeah and they can if we're talking. about uh sea snails like I said we're. not going to get too into them but they. can have similar uh body parts in terms. of breathing or they can also have gills. uh kind of up front as well yeah so one. of the things snails are most famous for.

are uh is their mucus right yeah uh that. is apparently secreted by the foot and. as the foot moves along it's just a. series of muscles that just kind of. propel as they Ripple uh Propel the. snail along but they lay down a trail of. mucus that does a lot of different. things for one it allows the snail to do. some Spiderman esque moves like just. crawl right up the side of a building. because it's yeah very strong it's glue. like yeah it can be it's funny because.

it can be glue like or act as a. lubricant exactly which is pretty. remarkable yeah so yeah it also. separates the snail from the rest of the. world that it's running over yeah you. know it it um it's strong like glue but. it also allows the snail to move. smoothly and it also protects the. snail's body from sharp things that it. might be crawling over slowly crawling. over um and it also keeps the moisture. locked inside so much so that snail.

mucin as we'll see has been used for. Millennia as like kind of a skin thing. if you have very dry skin and you can. get your hands on snail mucin or mucus. uh it will cure your dry. skin yeah I mean that's what keeps the I. mean that in other things is what keeps. that snail moist so if it's if it's. keeping the snail alive then imagine. what it can do for your crows feed. exactly uh I don't think we said what. was actually made of it's um enzymes.

peptides. proteins uh trace minerals and it's it's. pretty remarkable stuff it's um you know. the Telltale sinus when you see that. stuff on the. sidewalk uh and just the term snail. Trail itself that sort of snotty. glistening shiny snail Trail is uh you. know it's become sort of part of the. Lexicon to you know as a standin for. other things at times so yeah for sure. so um one of the other things that the. snail Trail the mucus Trail does is it.

says Hey sailor come come this way right. because it's one way that snails find. one another to mate which is surprising. that they mate because they're hermitic. they both all snails or most species of. land snails are equipped with both male. and female sex organs and but and when. they come together to mate um it's. there's no telling who's who or who's. doing what because in the end both of. them often Come Away with fertilized.

eggs yeah I mean to me this section is. uh the most remarkable stuff about. snails how they reproduce is just. amazing um they are hrodi because and it. just makes sense if you're moving 0.5. Ines per second you would die out as a. species if you uh if like a male had to. search for a female or the other way. around uh so they basically just double. their chances of finding somebody within.

the you know 10 ft or so that they're. they're wandering around uh I mean they. they move more than that within a. lifetime obviously but you know if it's. that time of year which is what like. Autumn sure Autumn and spring autumn and. spring they're going to wander around uh. they're going to find another snail uh. they're going to dance uh around each. other and that just means very slowly. Circle each other for I saw four to 6. hours uh I saw the whole thing can take.

up to 12 hours uh it's a very obviously. as you would imagine a very slow process. it is slow but it's really involved like. they are really into it while they're. they're going at it yeah I mean they're. they're and this is before they're going. at it this is when they're just sort of. like sizing each other up they're. getting steamed they're touching. tentacles they're biting each other's. lips things are getting really pretty. hot and heavy in there and then they. have something that is amazing and I.

don't know of any other animal that has. something like this uh they have. something called a a love what they call. a love Dart M uh a love Dart only forms. after the first mating so you have to. have at least a little bit of sexual. experience to even form a love Dart sure. uh they take about a week to form and. you don't always have to have one to. mate because if you've used up your love. Dart and then you know within the you. want to go at it again you you can still.

do that it's not necessary for. reproduction but it helps in. reproduction uh they form in the dart. sack and is stored in a dart sack and if. you look at it it's a little it is a. little Dart it's got this little sharp. Harpoon like tip and they actually it. says they they shoot it but it doesn't. like fly through the air it's more like. a they stab one another with it oh I. imagine it like PE and then just sailing. a couple feet and then spry that would. be great it's more like a stabbing but.

apparently it's very imprecise uh this. hydraulic pressure builds up as they. Circle and bite each other's lips and. then they shoot this thing out at each. other and it can I think about a third. of the time it doesn't even do what it's. intended to do which we'll get to in a. sec but uh it can Pierce organs it can. go all the way through the head and out. the other side yeah so it's it's really. crazy it's a weird adaptation yeah no. it's super weird and the the I think. what's most weird about it to me is.

there's other animals that do that to. deliver sperm that's that's not what the. snails are doing these love darts. deliver other hormones that help protect. the sperm as it makes its way to the. eggs to. fertilize yeah it's like a really clumsy. Superfluous extra step that like you. said doesn't even like they they miss a. lot of the time they still manage to. fertilize eggs it's just a very strange. thing that that they do but it's part of. this really long.

really slimy courtship mating you know. process that they get involved in and. then the the sex itself is like just one. rubs its foot against the other foot and. there you go right and they're and they. say who's pregnant which and they go I. don't know maybe both of us yeah both of. us actually can it be both yeah that's. what I'm saying like both both can walk. away with fertilized eggs after this. yeah and they can lay I think they can. hatch up to 450 eggs per.

year uh and when and that doesn't take. very long actually right in the. gestation period it can be like really. short right for some species especially. in captivity it can be 24 hours others. it seems like the outside is four weeks. and usually in the wild it's like two to. four weeks for. gestation yeah and once those little. guys are born they they may immediately. start eating the rest of the eggs as. their first meal yeah it's it's kind of. a bummer especially because leading up. to it it's so cute this little tiny.

snail with its little tiny shells inside. its egg and it starts tapping its way. out till it cracks through the egg and. then yeah it gruesomely eats its. siblings very quickly sometimes it'll. eat smaller siblings that have already. hatched not just the eggs yeah what I. didn't realize though is that some and. that's that's actually not all snail. species there that's ones that will eat. eggs but for the most part they'll eat. just vegetation. yeah um the snail parent will often stay.

nearby to provide protection for the the. young snail hatchlings for a little. while yeah they hang out for a while. right yeah I did not realize that which. I thought was pretty cool yeah they can. they can hang out for up to three months. together while the parents are kind of. protecting them uh and like you said. they're born with that little baby shell. and just gets bigger and bigger MH uh. they did we talk about how long they can. live no we didn't it's pretty. spectacular yeah I mean in the wild they.

can live up to 5 years which that. shocked me quite frankly yeah it really. makes you feel bad for all this snails. you've accidentally stepped on after a. rainy evening I know you hope at least. they were old yeah exactly like they had. their time yeah uh so five years is a. pretty long time in the wild I think um. in captivity they can live up to 25. years which is astounding yeah there's a. really great little short documentary. called the um strange and wonderful. world of the snail Wrangler it's on. YouTube and it's about this woman who.

takes photos of her um snail friends in. like little miniature settings human. settings it's really cute and um she. talks about one of her snail companions. that she's been with for like 10 years. and it's just I mean when you think of. it like that like snails are just so. they're off doing their own thing they. live in a world far different from ours. even though we share the same geography. it's just a different world so when you. cross paths with one you're like hey. Alien and they're probably like hey.

giant alien and that's it the idea that. they're there in that same patch as long. as you are in some cases when you're. like if you live at a house for 10 years. a a. snail might have lived there just as. long as you did for the same time like. you shared that with them that whole. time it's they're not just Anonymous. generic animals running around they're. they I mean anything that lives that. long there's just something more. substantial to it than than you would.

think. initially are you saying a snail has a. soul I think it's pretty clear. yes all right so snails are doing their. things I love this account that Allison. found that was a scientist from. Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural. History uh that said snails are leaky. bags of water that survive on dry land y. uh and it almost sounds like they're. saying like they happen to survive cuz. it it it doesn't seem like a snail was. really made for that environment but.

they survive anyway because snails. really need to stay moist like a snail. drying out just like a slug means. certain death so even though there are. snails in the desert you're mainly going. to find snails in more uh moist areas. we're going to say that word quite a bit. I apologize I was going to say unlike. humans moist is a snail's favorite word. it really is uh they do live on the. ground mainly if they're terrestrial. snails but uh they can live in trees uh.

but they really like it down there on. the ground in that sort of uh moist. outer layer of decaying plant matter um. they're pretty active at night because. things can get uh wetter overnight as we. know like when you wake up with like. Morning Dew and stuff like that uh so. they're just down there on the ground. sometimes eating meat and other snails. and other eggs but generally what. they're doing is eating and munching. down on that either decaying plant. matter or uh if you have a garden they.

will also Munch down on your nice new. fresh plants yeah and as we'll see that. they run a foul of gardeners for that. reason but just hold your horse's. gardeners put your your rubber mallets. away for a second until we get to that. part and talk you out of it but in that. leaf litter layer they do a lot of. really important stuff. um they they are in charge of like. recycling um plant matter decaying stuff. they love decaying everything um in.

addition to live plants too they love. dead plants and when they're doing that. they're like recycling nutrients they. eat that stuff they break it down and. they poop it out and that means it's. bioavailable in the soil for plants to. use for other animals to come along and. like that like to lick the dirt that. kind of thing they also are really. important in the food web. because calcium is not really easy. necessar necessarily to come by in food. um at least if you're like a a small.

like an invertebrate or a mammal or. something like that if you eat a snail. shell you get a burst of calcium so it's. that snail shell is really important and. then they're also chalk full of protein. themselves so they're like a really. important part of any food web in the. ecosystem that they live in yeah they're. also moving stuff around down there I. mean uh plant matter and that outer. layer that just sits and sits isn't. great uh but if they're if you've got. thousands of snails moving around.

through it it's going to help drainage. out it's going to help keep Distributing. those. nutrients uh if there's you know it can. help move dirt and Clay even that's very. important uh all that stuff is great and. they can actually help pollinate too uh. some of them are nighttime pollinators. uh they get in there with that plant. nectar they eat that stuff and then they. poop that out as well yeah pretty crazy. I had no idea that they were pollinated. it just makes them even more important. you know what I mean totally so I think.

Chuck we take a break and then we come. back and talk about why you should leave. the snails alone how about that let's do. [Music]. [Applause]. [Music]. it.

so um one thing that we said earlier. Chuck was that snails run a foul of. gardeners and the reason why is because. they will I mean they will eat a lot of. plants the the burgundy snail also known. as the Roman snail the one that's mostly. used for escargo these days they weigh. 20 Gish as an adult but they'll eat six. gram of plant matter in a day yeah you. have a bunch of burgundy snails running. around your garden they're going to eat.

your hostas they're going to eat your. seedlings they're going to tick you off. and so there's a lot of um a lot of. animosity that gardeners have towards. snails and slugs too um and so they. people have been trying things to get. rid of snails for a very long time the. problem is number one you don't actually. want to get rid of snails especially. native snails or common garden snails. and number two the methods typically. used are chemical and they can harm.

other life as well um so there's you. basically want to leave the snails alone. as as much as. possible yeah uh there is some. information here that um Allison got. from The Royal Horticultural Society in. Britain and they say you know don't use. chemical pesticides please like if you. want to get rid of your snails you can. try and do so naturally by uh. introducing predators. uh I guess you know you throw a bunch of. garden beetles out there and see what.

happens sure just say whoever whoever. walks out of here alive is you know. deserves to live it's like the th. Thunderdome. exactly two inter one leaves as a matter. of fact if you're bored just go ahead. and build a small scale replica of the. Thunderdome and put the snail in the. beetle in you sicko that's right but. then you have to uh act like Tina Turner. and use that voice when Hello raggedy. snail that's what you would have to call.

it you go that was a great impression by. the way Chuck thank you in addition to. um putting them in a death match against. Beatles um you can go pick them out. yourself if you go out at night with the. flashlight you can pick um pick up uh. plenty of snails the thing is you put. them in your neighbor's Garden yeah. exactly especially if they're a jerk. hosta grower they'll really drive them. crazy now what you want to do is put. them on your compost pile because again. they like deing stuff and they're really. useful so they'll be pretty happy there.

um and you can also trap them by carving. out like melons or grapefruit or. something like that and they'll be. attracted to that and it's just. basically acts as a trap you just throw. it back on your compost pile the next. day and there you go all right um some. people do say you you some people still. use um pesticides if you're if your. organic use feric phosphate which it. interrupts their ability to digest so. they die of starvation in a few days.

there's another one called metal dhide. that is Hardcore stuff it it desiccates. them they end up dehydrating to death. and it's banned in the EU because they. consider it unacceptably harmful to. birds and mammals of course it is here. in the US you can use it as much as you. like of course you can and they use it. for the giant African land snail in. particular because again met cahide is. Hardcore stuff and it turns out that the. giant African land snail is Hardcore.

snail yeah it's a hardcore snail. obviously would be a invasive species. here in North America uh these are the. big ones the one that look like a bunny. I thought uh it can be 8 Ines long they. eat more than 500 species of plant they. will eat everything in its in their. paths uh including uh in Florida they're. a real problem in Florida apparently uh. they will eat stucco off your house uh. to get more calcium and they can pass.

disease along to people and animals yeah. rat. lungworm yeah menitis uh I've see that. they're um they can carry a host of uh. parasites or they can host a host of. parasites W uh some of which will is is. you know good for the snail because it. keeps uh animals from eating them so. it's like a defense mechanism right but. that can be harmful to people at times. as well. yeah yeah you don't want rat lungworm. like you said it can create menitis in.

humans so it's best to not really handle. snails with your bare hands and. especially don't eat the snail alive. from your garden that's a really bad. idea yeah but people actually collect uh. and I'm not sure if that's how they got. here but people collect these you know. as an illegal pet these giant African. land snails that's my understanding that. they were imported as illegal pets at. least to South world are people doing I. don't know but they also have been have.

shown up in some other places including. Hawaii and. Polynesia and somehow they got from. Florida to these places probably through. the illegal pet trade and so um in just. typical human fashion in the 50s people. said well wait there's this this snail. called a Rosy wolf snail and it's a. predator it's a little literal snail. predator let's just import a bunch of. them to take care of this giant African.

land snail because I'm sure nothing will. possibly go wrong because of this plan. it's foolproof and that's what they did. and as a result Hawaii has lost almost. all of its native snail species in the. wild because the rosy wolf snail was. like I I'd just rather eat these other. kinds of snails and leave the giant. African snail alone yeah these things. are pretty creepy though uh I imagine. there there's got to be some kind of uh. that Geo video of the wolf uh snail like.

you know following its prey because for. a snail they're moving pretty fast yeah. uh when they're tracking something they. go double to Triple their normal speed. they will go up a tree after something. they will go underwater after something. for a little while until they need to. come up it seems like they're just. tenacious little fellas and they will go. after something until they catch it yeah. and they like to swallow other snails. whole including their shell wow and. there was a malacologist named Harry G. Lee who dissected a Rosy wolf snail and.

found 13 other snails shells in its gut. yeah that's a lot that's a lot it's like. uh in a in a Louisiana state license. plate yeah exactly so yeah you don't. want these things on your beautiful. pristine Island and once you bring them. in they're going to cause all sorts of. problems and that's what that goodbye. snail video was about it's definitely. worth watching but the rosie wolf snail. is definitely considered invasive and. what I didn't know Chuck is the common.

garden snail um the one we're so. familiar with is in considered invasive. in the United States um coru aspersum. poof that is the common garden snail and. it was originally imported because it. was the one that used to be es cargo and. some of them escaped from farms and set. up shop in the wild and now it's called. the common garden snail because it. became so. prolific yeah and they don't know when. people started eating uh escargo and I.

think escargo is is the French name for. that edible snail and also doubles is. the name of the. dish right yeah yeah I think you're. right like U French Fri it's both. yeah uh but you know people like this. stuff it was always you know growing up. you always heard about escargo was like. this you know sort of as a as a kid the. the first fancy weird food you'd heard. of probably like do the wealthy have no. bounds kind.

of exactly uh and then you know we've. got all signs should we finish up with. just a bunch of kind of cool factoids. yeah for sure uh well jewelry uh snail. shells have always uh or have long been. used as jewelry for humans is some of. the oldest known human jewelry they. found this stuff uh like necklaces and. stuff made of uh sea snail shells that. date back like at least 120,000 years. that's nuts man yeah what else uh the.

author Patricia heith who is a very. interesting person in her own right she. wrote The Strangers on a train and The. Talented Mr Ripley novels she was a. snail pal like the snail Wrangler in. that video that I talked about and like. the snail Wrangler in that video that I. talked about she would go out in public. with their snails as companions uh. there's a story of Patricia heith at a. party who who was revealed have dozens. of snails in her purse uh who she. brought so she'd have someone to talk to.

her snail friends yeah how about that. how about that that's what snail people. do is that kind of thing yeah yeah uh. this is really interesting is they've. been studying how snails might uh help. us figure out Alzheimer's. disease uh from what I found is they've. you know we've talked about Alzheimer's. before which is when you have these. ameloid plaque buildup uh or plaques I. guess that build up on the the brain. tissue and they're they don't exactly. know how it causes memory loss but this.

is what they're trying to figure out. with the snails uh these plaques are. formed from a protein called ameloid. beta uh which we've talked about or a. beta and they have taken a beta and put. it on otherwise very healthy Pond snails. I'm not I have no idea why they chose. like why they thought it the pond snail. was a good candidate to begin with. terrible lobbying group maybe that's. what it is but they put this a beta on. these healthy Pond snails and within 24. hours they they show evidence that they.

have have harmed their memory basically. but the the finding is that they haven't. found any uh damage to the brain tissue. like no cell loss no no brain tissue. damage at all so basically what they're. they have sort of you know the result of. all that is that a beta by itself can. trigger the memory loss and it's not. from like damage to the brain or like a. deterior of the brain or the pla build. up right yeah exactly they think it's.

like a specific uh pathway for memory. that's being damaged and not the brain. itself thank you Pond snails I know it's. it's amazing I also saw it goes the. other way too that the common garden. snails mucus has been found to be. bioactive as a. anti-inflammatory antioxidant and anti-. aopc which means it prevents cell death. oh wow so they think that they they're. figuring out how to turned that into a. drug to treat Alzheimer's too so snails. are just coming at us with the onew.

punch to battle Alzheimer's disease yeah. God bless it speaking of God bless them. if you're uh subscribed to the West. African Yuba religion you would say God. bless the snail because they're. associated with obatala the sky father. as well as the orishas collective. deities to whom the land snail the giant. African land snail in particular is. sacred I got to read this last thing. this is the only last thing I got okay. this Nigerian uh snail recipe yeah uh.

I'm not into eating snails they call. this Congo meat uh it's got red pepper. Habaneros okay uh garlic onion all right. and then a seasoned with cayenne and. ground. crayfish yeah you lost me at Habano but. it does sound extremely interesting I I. would try it I'd just be like can you. leave the habanero out too hot too hot. yeah too hot for the hot tub yeah too. hot for TV uhhuh so um I've got one more.

thing Chuck let's hear it uh there is a. weird thing that started popping up at. the end of the 13th century in northern. France if you look through illuminated. manuscripts meaning manuscripts that. have the Doodles in the margins and all. that like a Mad Magazine yeah you will. start to notice there are pictures of. knights battling giant snails oh yeah. that's so interesting and they it lasted. for like a hundred or so years as like a. trend it actually came back again for a.

little while in the 15th century and no. one has any idea what they were trying. to say one of the theories is that it. was just hilarious that it was meant as. like kind of comic relief while you're. reading like this kind of heavy text or. whatever you just look over and you're. like that's a night battling a snail. right yeah other people say that that. snails symbolize something like. superhuman strength because they carry. their house on their back I kind of poo. poo that one I like this the comic. relief one and people are just like hey. this is funny look at this this Knight's.

fighting a snail yeah this will be good. for a laugh said the medieval monk very. interesting I say so too so if you want. to know more about snails everybody go. forth research them you could do worse. than watching the strange and wonderful. world of the snail Wrangler and goodbye. snails and if you see a snail in your. garden and especially if it's not doing. anything to harm things you just tip. your hat to it and say good day snail. you could be as much as 5 to 10 years. old that's right Chuck said that's right.

as means it's time for listener. mail yeah uh we're going to do a. correction uh I wish we could get this. one out sooner because we're going to. continue to get emails uh about the. great isotope ion my goodness. issue which I didn't know was an issue. uh this this was we got a lot of them. but this is from uh Nick ly a PhD. student at UC Irvine uh and Nick is. getting a PhD in quantum chemistry oh.

wow man I want to hang out with you. nick uh and Nick listens uh with his. wife Dina hey Dina and said can't wait. till we're in town uh for a show but if. if you're at Irvine I mean Irvine how. far is that from San Francisco I have no. idea I mean it's in the state of. California so it's got to just be like. an hour away right exactly yeah. everything in California is an hour away. come see us uh Hey guys wanted to offer.

a slight correction about the periodic. table don't hate me uh when you mention. the different weighted averages being a. result of different isotopes uh you. mention that it is the loss or gain of. an electron that constitutes the. different isotopes this is actually. incorrect what you've defined is an ion. not an isotope yeah uh it is the varying. number of neutrons that makes up the. different flavors of Isotopes this is. the thing that makes carbon dating. possible I love that episode by the way. uh last thing guys uh chemistry as a. whole is a very inaccessible branch of.

stem I hated it I failed my first. chemistry uh chemistry class and one day. our professor was out sick and the chair. of the chem uh Chim Department came to. subin and she implored us to get a PhD. in chemistry I said to myself she must. be nuts here I am 10 years later and I. am clearly the one who is nuts uh the. long and short of this last bit is to. never give up on science nice and that. again is from Nick I think it said ly. but it's actually.

ly okay like Chipotle or. Chipotle yeah that's right thanks a lot. Nick we we'll call him Nick L from now. on yeah uh that was a great one so. everybody who wrote in to let us know we. appreciate you for doing that because we. like to get things right and that was. definitely a slip up and it is something. that we needed to correct for sure so. good job Chuck picking that one yeah. well if you want to get in touch with us. and let us know we got something wrong. or we got something right or tell us. something about yourself or your dog or.

your pet goat doesn't matter you can. send it via email to stuff podcast. iheartradio.com. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts ihart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite. [Music]. shows.