Snails are slow, sedate salad eaters, known to hide in their houses to wait it out when things get dangerous…and even then they still get eaten! One might call them real victims.
And then there’s the other sort of snails, the really slimy predators! Unbelievable but true: there are snails that actively look for other small animals to gobble up. They’re not even slow at that; they move very quickly and precisely. And if you think predator snails would only live in the tropical regions, you’re wrong. You can find them in our forests in Europe. They mostly eat earthworms, insects, their grubs and other snails.
The creepy thing is that the earthworms they eat are usually longer then the snails themselves, so while half an earthworm is being eaten, the other half sticks out the mouth of the snail, flopping about :S
These predators are so-called half-slugs with very small shells, enabling them to be more flexible in their movement. If you can’t imagine the concept of flesh-eating snails, check out the following video. It will show you a whole new side to snails…
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4aPcBUXmy8
Source: http://www.weichtiere.at/Schnecken/index.html?/Schnecken/morphologie/ernaehrung2.html?
