Snail homing instinct confirmed by science

The Snails, parted from one another by the cruel hand of man, found themselves in distant lands. Beginning a long and perilous journey home, each tuned into the ancestral ley, the viae gastropoda, which despite its name is truly understood only by those of Clan Helix, Wanderers of the Gardens. Through the soils and grass thickets, the salt ridges and cyclopean escarpments left by the hated giants, each suffered much to return to their place of origin. But always there was the voice, the spatial awareness, guiding them even as it imparted fragmentary visions of unanswerable and terrible questions. Those who made it back had little to celebrate: they lay in grim, expectant silence, united again in their quest to destroy their nemesis. Traps set, radulae sharpened and shells rigged for war, they waited for Mrs. Coggins to appear at the back door, sluggo in her wizened hand, ready for the final battle. Snails 'have a homing instinct' [BBC] Previously. Previously. Photo: Shekynah

• [Donald Petersen]

  They’re laughing now, right though their stomachfeet. But once Mr Coggins comes home with a fresh box of Corry’s…

• [Anonymous]

  these things will bulldoze a magic mushroom patch in short order.

• [turingcub]

  UGH GOD NO it has not discovered any such thing. And a little fun prose does not soften the blow of annoyingly irresponsible science non-reporting.

  I apologize that I have a fairly complete lack of sense of humor about such things.

  Mr. Beschizza would do well to RTFA. It IS the Beeb science desk, after all; half the time you might as well be quoting Perez Hilton.

  *stomps off to look for garlic butter*

  • [Anonymous]

    Well they def. didn’t ‘discover’ anything, as this was already known as far as I’m aware?

  • [Rob Beschizza]

    You eat the sluggo, not inject it.

• [dr]

  So, one day my doorbell rang; nobody was there, but when I looked down there was a snail on the doorstep. I picked it up and hurled it across the street, over my neighbor’s fence.

  The next day the doorbell rang again, and again there was nobody there. I looked down, and there was the snail, who asked, “What the hell was that all about?”

• [MeanMrMustard]

  Old news. http://www.jasperfforde.com/grey/b010.html

• [Anonymous]

  i once had a roommate whose job had him constantly out-of-town, and during those times, i’d look after his aquarium. he had one of those big black “mystery snails” named mr nasty.

  one day as i was feeding thme, i noticed mr nasty way up near the surface of the water. i sprinkled a few tiny pellets near him, and he then tipped his head back and om nom nom’ed the fish food with his tiny little mouth.

  from that day onward he was almost always there at the top at feeding time, usually with his head already obligingly tipped back, so i could drop a tiny piece right into his mouth.

  i’m a firm believer that snails are smarter than most people would think!

  r.i.p. mr nasty <3

• [Rich Keller]

  Whenever I go into a French restaurant, about a dozen of them always find their way back into my stomach. It’s uncanny, really.

• [Pete]

  Actually, the best part of this story is that the beeb is encouraging people to do their own experiment, and send in the result: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/so-you-want-to-be-a-scientist/experiments/homing-snails/snail-swap/

• [Anonymous]

  I’ve always noticed that If you chuck snails over your fence/wall the same ones are back the next day.

• [Phikus]

  Mrs Coggins was unaware of the trap they had left her on the sidewalk. Slipping in the trail that was their only weapon, years (eons in snail time) of patience finally paid off as she was sent sprawling to the ground with a deafening thud, the Sluggo rolling from her lifeless hand.

• [dbarak]

  Aren’t homing pigeons a little more practical?

• [Gawain Lavers]

  “What we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It’s really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is crawl and eat and make little snails, and that’s all.”

  • [Greazy]

    i c wut u did thar :p