"'Mike'" wrote in message
...



"Malcolm" wrote in message
...

In article , 'Mike'
writes
A snail got itself stuck in the spout of the watering can. Its natural
instinct was to head for the light 'at the end of the spout', but of
course
the spout got narrower and it got stuck so we had to poke it out.

'Our' reaction would be to reverse, but 'can' snails reverse? Anybody see
one do it?

The (sensible) answer to your question, which no-one else seems to have
given (!), is that no, they can't. The sequence of muscular contractions
in their 'foot, which pushes them forwards, only works one way not both.

--
Malcolm

Thank you Malcolm. That is what I thought but didn't know for certain.

I think, however, they can turn and flex the foot outside the shell quite
extensively, so it would be feasible for them to reverse by turning in
place.
However if the spout is taller than it is broad then they wouldn't be able
to turn and would get stuck, presumably.
Hmmm....possible that they could turn their body around in the opening of
the shell so their foot points backward and so go backwards.
I would expect that they have some mechanism for getting out of
(evolutionary?) dead ends.

Anyone got a spare research grant? I have most of the raw materials required
for the experiments. ;-)