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Posted by on Feb 15, 2016 in TellMeWhy |

How Do Snails Move?

How Do Snails Move?

How Do Snails Move? A snail moves around by creeping on a part of its body that seems to be its stomach. The fact is that the whole bottom part of a snail’s body is really a broad foot! The muscles in the snail’s foot move in a rippling motion that slowly pushes the snail forward.

As the snail crawls from place to place, it pours out a trail of slime, or mucus. This gooey trail smoothens the way for the snail and helps it to cling to walls and other surfaces as it crawls up and down over objects in its path. The common garden snail creeps along at a snail’s pace of about six inches a minute.

You can often see these silvery tracks in the garden. The slime comes out from the front and hardens when it comes into contact with air. The snail is able to move on very sharp pointed needles, knife, razors and vines without being injured because the mucus-like secretion helps to protect its body.

Content for this question contributed by Ben Stewart, resident of Marinette, Marinette County, Wisconsin, USA