Garden snails are invasive on every continent except Antarctica. They traveled the world in a tub of butter.
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This morning’s sketch was a garden snail, which felt just right for a Tuesday when I’ve got to head to work early. My little girl probably set it aside for a Tuesday on purpose because she knows I have to leave a little early that day. It’s got just enough detail to be interesting, but not so much that it’s going to make me late for work.
The toy itself came from a resin model kit off Amazon, not Safari Ltd., but detailed enough that it could’ve been. We even ran it through Google Lens and confirmed it as a “garden snail”. I wrote down the scientific name yesterday, but it’s a snail. Garden snail pretty much covers it.
Snails are gastropods, which means “stomach foot.” They showed up in the Cambrian around 500 million years ago, and split off into their own line not long after, about 480 million years ago. Land snails first show up in the fossil record around 300-400 million years ago, likely from the Mediterranean area.
They’ve got lungs, not gills, so they can’t swim. But they made it to every continent except Antarctica thanks to humans. The Romans carried them around in sacks as food, and the eggs went wherever the Romans went. The French picked that habit up and kept it going. They were brought to Hawaii as a food source and, like most invasive species stories, they took over and caused more problems.
Snails spread by hitching rides, eggs stuck to birds’ feet, or passed through the gut intact and dropped off in new places. You’ll get snails popping up a thousand miles away from wherever the last ones were.
Most snails are hermaphrodites. When two mate, they both leave pregnant. Some even have love darts, and the first one to stick the other gets to be the male. That’s how snails work. You can end up with a full tank or garden overrun if you don’t watch it.
From my perspective, they’re mostly good for the garden. They aerate the soil, eat mold and dead leaves, and attract frogs and birds. But my mom doesn’t like them because when they get hungry, they’ll eat the live stuff too. They leave slime trails and chew marks and mess up your lettuce. They’re invasive in the U.S., but people don’t care much because they’re kind of cool looking.
If you’re not careful, they’ll turn up anyway. And if they do, well… you could always add garlic and butter.
Click here to watch the Garden Snail episode of Sketch & Coffee, Live!
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