Perhaps you have sometimes watched a snail moving slowly across the ground and wondered how it was able to move, since no "legs" were showing. The fact is that the whole bottom part of a snail's body is really a "foot"! This foot is flat and smooth and contains muscles which the snail uses to glide along the ground. To help it move more easily, this foot has tiny glands which give out a slimy fluid, so the snail really glides over the surface with a wavelike movement.
Here's an amazing fact about this foot of the snail. It is so tough that a snail can crawl along the edge of the sharpest razor without hurting itself in the slightest! In fact, the snail is a remarkable creature in many ways. For instance, a snail never gets lost. It has an instinct that guides it back to its hiding place no matter how far away it has wandered. And even though a snail may weigh less than 15 grams, it can pull a weight behind it that weighs more than 450 grams.
Snails are chiefly of two types, those with shells and those without. The snail that lives in a shell has a body that fits right into the coil of the shell, and it has strong muscles that enable it to pull its body entirely into the shell when there is danger. As an added protection when the body is in the shell, a horny disc at the end closes the opening tightly.
Snails live on land or in fresh water. Most snails eat plants of various kinds. The snail has a tongue that is like a file, with hundreds of tiny teeth. It uses this to cut and shred its food.
Here's an amazing fact about this foot of the snail. It is so tough that a snail can crawl along the edge of the sharpest razor without hurting itself in the slightest! In fact, the snail is a remarkable creature in many ways. For instance, a snail never gets lost. It has an instinct that guides it back to its hiding place no matter how far away it has wandered. And even though a snail may weigh less than 15 grams, it can pull a weight behind it that weighs more than 450 grams.
Snails are chiefly of two types, those with shells and those without. The snail that lives in a shell has a body that fits right into the coil of the shell, and it has strong muscles that enable it to pull its body entirely into the shell when there is danger. As an added protection when the body is in the shell, a horny disc at the end closes the opening tightly.
Snails live on land or in fresh water. Most snails eat plants of various kinds. The snail has a tongue that is like a file, with hundreds of tiny teeth. It uses this to cut and shred its food.
