Snails

Snails are gastropod mollusks; members of the phylum Mollusca and the class Gastropoda.When they feel threatened, they usually retreat into their shell to protect themselves.

The largest land snail is the Achatina achatina, the Giant African Snail.

Snail Feeding:
Most people believe that snails feed exclusively on plants, but it is not the case. Some species are omnivorous and some even carnivorous, as long as they can obtain the nutrients necessary to have a hard and healthy shell.

Snail Habitat:
Snails inhabit places ranging from sunny urban gardens to remote mountainous regions with cold climates; the snails can thrive successfully in many habitats with different temperatures and conditions.

Snail Anatomy:
Tentacles, brain, and heart are just some of the body parts of snails, soft-bodied gastropod mollusks with an attractive and rigid outer shell made mostly of calcium carbonate and essential for their protection and survival.

Snail Reproduction:
Snails are hermaphrodites, this is, they have the reproductive organs of both males and females so they can produce eggs and spermatozoa, allowing them to self-fertilize without a sexual partner. However, they usually copulate with a partner in the traditional way.

Snail Lifecycle:
The life cycle of a snail begins with a hatching egg, passing later through several stages of their life like sexual maturity, mating and dropping eggs to reproduce.

Snail Predators:
Snails have a simple defense mechanism that keeps some insects away, but this is often not enough for stronger enemies such as centipedes, squirrels, salamanders, or rats. Some snails attack other species also becoming predators.

Snail evolution:
There are still many questions about the evolutionary process of snails, but their ancestors lived about 550 million years ago, leading to a wide diversification of species that adapted to different terrestrial and aquatic habitats.