By Josie June 27th, 2023
The world's largest land snail can weigh up to one pound!
They can grow up to 8 inches in length and 11 inches in height.
They are native to East Africa but have now spread to many other regions worldwide, including Asia, the Caribbean, and South America.
There are up to 500 different types of plants that they enjoy.
Overall, they enjoy leaves, fruits, flowers, bark, stems, and fungi.
They use a specialized organ, the radula, with rows of tiny teeth, used to scrape and devour leaves, vegetables, and even bark.
These creatures have both male and female reproductive organs; they are hermaphrodites and can produce eggs and sperm simultaneously.
Under favorable conditions, they may lay clutches of eggs every two to four weeks, with each clutch containing around 100 to 400 eggs.
But, the largest land snail can endanger humans, agriculture, and the environment in general due to their invasive nature, large size, and the diseases it can carry.
They feed voraciously, leading to severe damage to agricultural crops and, compete with native snail species.
Because of their potential to wreak havoc on ecosystems, the African Giant Snail is listed as one of the top 100 invasive species in the world.
They are vectors for the rat lungworm parasite, which can cause a potentially fatal form of meningitis in humans