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Animals that eat snails can be found in almost every systematic group. Snails usually are quite defenceless and so are welcome sources of protein to many animals. Even those that usually do not eat snails will do so in times of meagre food supply. That is also true for man: It seems hard to imagine, that, while today snails are an expensive delicacy for few, during the Thirty Years� War farmers ate snails, because they had nothing else to eat.
Against larger insects, this mucus defence does not help. Especially carnivorous beetles, such as carabids (Carabidae) and fireflies (Lampyridae) (among the latter especially the larvae) are used to attacking and eating snails.
Not only insects eat snails, also many arachnids: Among the harvestmen (Opiliones) there are species (Ischyropsalis hellwigi) that almost exclusively live on snails.
There are snail eaters in all vertebrate classes. Among the amphibians mainly larger frogs, but especially toads eat snails, such as the common toad (Bufo bufo). That is why the latter should be a very welcome guest in every garden: It does not even hesitate to eat the large slugs, whose slime makes them inedible to other animals. Also the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) and its black relative, the alpine salamander (Salamandra atra) eat small slugs and snails. The fire salamander even lurks for its prey on mushrooms these visit to eat.
Among reptiles, mainly small non venomous species also eat snails, for example the European blindworm (Anguis fragilis) and the Australian snail skink (Tiliqua gerrardii), a small lizard. Among snakes there are for example certain canopy snakes from Costa Rica (the snake displayed is Dipsas bicolor).
Songbirds usually also eat snails, if their size allows them to do so. The song thrush (Turdus merula) has solved the problem how to crush a snail�s shell by throwing them on a suitable hard stone. Usually it uses the same stone ever and ever again, which is why there many broken snail shells can be found. Such a stone is then called a thrush anvil. On the other hand, snails have adapted to this by a most uncommon form of camouflage � depending on vegetation cover and ground colour, banded snails can be yellow or red, banded or unbanded, always those camouflaged best are selected to survive. Next to song birds, also fowl and ducks (for example the so-called runner ducks) eat snails. Stork, heron and other birds also will not leave a tasty snail aside.
Among mammals, especially insectivores also will eat snails, but also some carnivores will fatten their menu with a snail. Especially fond of snails and also slugs are hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus), moles (Talpa europaea) and shrews. The hedgehog has a special method to rid slugs of their sticky slime: It rolls them in earth and then cleans them with its paws.
2007-10-05 11:30:44
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answer #1
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answered by Anonymous
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Lots of animals eat snails. Catfish and bullheads, drum and carp. There is a small hawk in Florida that eats snails, Everglades kite. Many other birds. Some snakes, frogs, turtles, lizards and young alligators.
2007-10-05 11:36:10
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answer #2
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answered by Anonymous
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The French people of France eat snails, they call it escargot, believing a fancy name will make it allright, this of course fools nobody.
2007-10-06 00:53:07
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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Caterpillars in Hawaii trap snails with silk webs and devour their captive prey alive.
2007-10-05 11:30:14
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answer #4
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answered by andyysayss 1
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"Scientists" attack Christianity and "Christians" attack science. How can science be used to objective non-repeatable phenomena. Did "guy" exist 7,000 years in the past? It relies upon on the type you outline "guy." in case you outline "guy" as somebody who can checklist history, the respond could be "no." whilst i grew to become into attending college, many years in the past, C-14 relationship grew to become into stated as an "absolute" relationship approach and constrained to 50,000 years in the past. Now this is seen a relative relationship device. It has alway been seen as such via physicists and extends previous 60,000 years. C14 is created via bombarding the nitrogen loose on the fantastic of the ambience with cosmic capability. If there is way less loose nitrogen, there is way less C14 created. much less C14 in an merchandise shows an older age. science does not attack something. the 2d it does, it ceases to be science. Scientists who take sides like which will become priests of "science" extremely than observers of experiments and science is all approximately repeatable science. right this is the weak spot of all relationship platforms. no one has ever examined them for 2 hundred,000 years... or perhaps 60,000 years. the concept that the forces that govern those platforms are static is without evidence. Even the assumption-approximately time has its limits. without mass/gravity, time does not exist, in accordance ot Steven Hawkings. yet, then, the Biblical relationship is likewise based on assumptions via some nineteenth century bishop. How long is an afternoon if the earth does not rotate in terms of the sunlight... or if there is not any sunlight. Then there is the subject of randomness. If a pail of ice unexpectedly began to boil, could or not it fairly is a miracle or an twist of destiny of probability? science could say it grew to become into an twist of destiny of probability probably in elementary terms to ensue as quickly as in one trillion trillion buckets of ice. in some unspecified time interior the destiny, that that's probability and that that's supernatural attain a nexus.
2016-11-07 09:07:39
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answer #5
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answered by ? 4
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TURTLES EAT SNAILS
2007-10-05 11:21:15
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answer #6
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answered by lilcrazie43 1
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Frenchmen
2007-10-05 11:26:09
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answer #7
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answered by Nomadd 7
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Some songbirds, toads, the fire salamander, hedgehogs, shrews.....
good luck!!
2007-10-05 11:23:45
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answer #8
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answered by Anonymous
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hedghogs!! :] hope it helps
2007-10-05 11:21:44
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answer #9
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answered by Anonymous
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