In the forests of South Africa a group of snail can be found doing something a bit surprising . Tail - wagger snail do what it say on the tin , project around small black protrusions like little dog-iron in a in effect mood .
Exactly what purpose the buns - wag serves is n’t known for certain , but it ’s been suggested it could be a essential behaviour for when the clock time hail to checkmate . According toDr Werner de Gier , these snails have a reputation for dramatic escape attempt , through a combination of tail - wagging , shell - spinning , and even bungee cord jumping . This kind ofJames Bond slime magichas been follow in slugs , too , who will employ mucous secretion threads to slide down like a wanderer .
Tail - wagger snails go to the Urocyclidae folk of line - breathing dry land escargot , slug , andsemi - slugs . Once thought to be a single group , the stern - wagger snails were joined by anew genus and eight newfangled speciesfrom easterly South Africa in 2017 , and it seems we still have a pot to learn about them .
Filmmaker and conservation warriorJosh Crickmayrecently happened upon some tail end - wagger snail in one of the more joyful telecasting IFLScience has hear of later . He spotted the rare peck while out walking in the forests of St Lucia , a settlement in uMkhanyakude District Municipality in the KwaZulu - Natal province of South Africa .
“ I barely believe these actually subsist , ” he can be heard articulate in the cartridge clip . “ Look at that ! They are mating I believe , and they seem to be very well-chosen about it , judging by their behaviour . ”
“ I ’ve been wanting to see these Guy for a tenacious time . I ’ve hear about them before peculiarly in these forests around St Lucia . [ … ] They wag their tails with the role of regain a mate , which implore the question , why keep wag once you ’ve receive your partner ? I can only feign it ’s because they ’re moderately happy about it . ”
Whatever the reason , it ’s hard to brush off thedog - like gleeof their tail - wag , begging the doubtfulness : what ’s the canine equivalent of anthropomorphise ?
