Today.Az » Weird / Interesting » Japanese snails can survive digestion by birds
14 July 2011 [14:08] - Today.Az
A Japanese breed of snail can survive digestion by birds, researchers have discovered.
Around 15% of the snails were found alive in droppings after being consumed by the Japanese white-eye bird. The findings have been published in the Journal of Biogeography.
A researcher from Japan's Tohoku University said: "We were surprised at the high rate still alive after passing through the birds' guts.
"This is the first study showing that birds can indeed transport a substantial [number of] micro-land snails in their gut alive. One even gave birth after passing through."
The snails in question are 2.5mm long, which is said to have contributed to their reasonable survival rate.
The researcher went on to say that the study helps explain the wide geographical distribution of the snails, commenting: "Biogeography of wingless terrestrial invertebrates, in particular snails, is often faced with mysterious long distance dispersal patterns that can only be explained by hand-waving arguments involving birds' feet or guts or cyclones."
/Digital Spy/
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