At A Snail's Pace -- Lost Valley, Arkansas

Originally shared by Shawn McClure

At A Snail's Pace -- Lost Valley, Arkansas
"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I found this beautiful snail in the entrance to a small cave in northwestern Arkansas. It was vary large snail, with a shell that was a bit larger in diameter than a U.S. quarter dollar coin. Needless to say, I got the opportunity to take several shots without feeling rushed. ;)

Some snail facts, courtesy of http://www.snail-world.com/:

The life span for snails depends on their habitat and the species. Some of them only live for about 5 years. However, others in the wild are believed to be up to 25 years old in unusual occasions.

While moving, snails they leave behind a trail of mucus. This mucus acts as a powerful lubricant to reduce friction against the surface. This is why they are able to move upside down, around corners, and other situations

Garden snails (helix apersa) a top speed of 50 yards per hour, this is about 1.3 cm. per second. While they don’t move fast, they do move at a very steady pace. The snails are one of the slowest creatures on the entire Earth.

Snails are Hermaphrodites. Facts and information about snails
Snails have the reproductive organs of both, males and females, which categorize them as hermaphrodites. However, they cannot create offspring on their own. They must mate with another and then both of them will have the ability to lay eggs.

Snail can see but can’t hear. Most land snails have two set of tentacles, the upper one carry the eyes, while the lower one has the olfactory organs.

Snails are nocturnal animals, which means most of their movements take place at night.

Snails are very strong and can lift up to 10 times their own body weight in a vertical position.

For #WholeWildlifeWeek  curated by Dick Whitlock, Sandy Schepis, Anette Mossbacher, and Diego Cattaneo, and  #MolluskMonday , and  #hqspmacro HQSP Macro curated by  Stefanie Schächtel Igor Schevchenko Peter Marbaise Evi Verstraeten Anja Wessels, and  #Macro4All  by Bill Urwin, Thomas Kirchen,   Walter Soestbergen (Macro4All ), and  #macromaniacs for MacroManiacs and Sandra Deichmann, and  #macroaddict (MacroAddict) curated by Sandrine Berjonneau, William Banik, Magy Duarte & Kailash Khedekar , Ruth Benjamin...