Garden Snail

The garden snail is a common land snail native to the Mediterranean region but now found across much of Europe and widely introduced elsewhere in the world, familiar to gardeners for its coiled, brownish shell, moist grey body and habit of feeding on a broad range of garden plants, often considered a pest for the damage it can do to vegetables and ornamental plants. It moves slowly on a single muscular foot, gliding over a trail of mucus that reduces friction and helps protect its soft body from rough or sharp surfaces, and it is most active at night or after rain, when cooler, damper conditions reduce the risk of drying out. Garden snails are hermaphrodites, possessing both male and female reproductive organs, and during an elaborate courtship ritual mating pairs exchange small calcium structures known as love darts before fertilizing one another's eggs. In dry or cold conditions the garden snail can seal the opening of its shell with a layer of dried mucus and enter a dormant state for extended periods, and in some cultures the species is also farmed and eaten as a food source, most famously in French cuisine as a type of escargot.