African Giant Land Snail

As we say farewell to the summer season here in the Greater Kruger we will lose sight of one of our most extraordinary species Achinata fulica.

Commonly known as the African Giant Land snail , it is one of nature's hermaphrodites having both male and female sexual organs. They cannot self fertilise , reproduction only occurs with another individual and the silvery snail trail they leave behind contains olfactory signals of readiness or readiness to mate.

They mate at night after a courtship ritual of around 30 mins which includes head and front parts petting, which if successful leads to copulation averaging 6 hours.

Transferred sperm can be stored for two years to help counter drought period. Egg clutches average 200 and take 8 to 21 days to hatch.

They feed on a wide range of live and dead plant and animal matter including sand , very small stores , bones as calcium sources for its shell development. They reach adult size by 6 months but continue a slow growth until death with an average life expectancy of 3 to 6 years.

Best never to pick one up as they can be carrying a parasitic nematode that can infect a serious meningitis in humans.

Uniquely extraordinary is the anus that starts facing rearwards and then the mantle cavity contorts whereby it ends up facing frontwards above the head , and this is known as " Torsion" .

Fortunately it also has a jet wash away system that propels its waste forward beyond its mouth avoiding ingestion of its own faeces.

This is an unusual photograph of a large example climbing up a window.