Thursday, June 19, 2008

Snails: Friends or Foes?





(Above: Snails providing hours and hours of wholesome entertainment.)

I was going to write a nice long post about Bigfoot today, but I think I shall save that for tomorrow and turn my attention to one of nature's smallest creatures. (But you probably already knew that, since almost all of you appear to be psychic. If you ever have any prophetic dreams about me, I insist that you send me a note!)

The humble snail (shown above) has long been the butt of jokes. However, today we must peer deep into our own hearts and ask ourselves: Do they really deserve this abuse?

The Case FOR Snails:


They make excellent objet d'art: British artist Slinkachu has been decorating the shells of average snails and setting the little beasties loose in London. How cool would it be to look down and see something like this . . .




Also, they actually CAN deliver the mail. (If you're ready to wait for them.) The good folks at boredomresearch.net have created the world's first webmail service using real snails. Their fastest postal worker, a snail named Austin, averages a 1.96 day delivery time!

And, of course, snails taste magnifique! I love escargot, but my favorite snails are whelks, which are best enjoyed with a little mayonnaise.

However, the case AGAINST snails is quite serious:

The truth is, snails are quite disgusting to behold, and they can gobble up a garden in no time. They've also been known to display homicidal tendencies.

And don't forget the Giant Chupacabras Snail. Shudder. Imagine finding that in your lettuce . . .




Nasty!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

ewwww gross. At times it looks like its eating itself!!!

~ Skyla

(First comment?)

Kitty said...

They're all soo cute!!! (especally the Giant Chupacabras Snail! X3) I had a pet snail before!

Anonymous said...

Well, the Giant Chupacabras snail was freaky until I looked at the full address for the ppage. PArt of it was Photo Hoax 2007...(fill in the blank)

Anonymous said...

AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!! hi. it is 108 degrees in slo. please help! p.s.the aaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!! at the beginning was about the snails.

International Mastermind said...

Got to love the soundtrack to the vid. xD
It eats almost as ravenously as my little sister after a soccer game.

Hágatha said...

really , they no deserves this treatment. I am of the Brazil & me apology at English , was translated over the Internet even , the one to isn't a good deal effective. :) I would like to know who she writes in that blog. I kiss

kt ninja said...

okkkkkayyyy...first they have clothes for dogs, and now they have snail cases! what next, shoes for centapedes! its cute and all, but yah.

Random Irregular said...

Gary the snail is an extremely intelligent snail. He is much more smarter that Spongebob.

My chickens love snails too. But then their poo goes all runy from the over consumption of super-delicious snails.

Irregular Kiki said...

Oh no! Just yesterday I was running to the car when I was leaving someone's house, and they didn't open the light so I couldn't see where I was stepping.

All of a sudden: CRUNCH
eeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww
I accidently stepped on a snail

creepy crawlies are my worst fears.

Invisible Turtle said...

Snails have a right to want to crash cars! I was at camp and as soon as someone saw a slug, they ran in to get some salt. I tried to save him, but I was too late.

The snails are, obviously, sticking up for their less-protected, shelless (shellless?) cousins.

sekrit7 said...

That is so cool! I love the decorated snails, it'd be amazing to look down and be like whoa! What's that??

dangerous said...

It's really cute in an icky sort of way! I honestly wouldn't mind it in my lettuce, if not much was ruined.

ss (hobo slugs!!) chick said...

hahahahahahahaha! eww.. that was funny and gross and cute all at once. when i got here (portland) my dad had sligs in his garden but couldnt find their hiding place, then i came and, HAHA!, they were hiding in a box i found that was holding flowers i was planting.

kirsten, dont some to portland yet! OR if you do, come tomorrow night and meet me at the rose city rollers roller derby; it rules!

wwo hooo!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

i <3 snails!!! XD

Anonymous said...

when my mom lived in california, her town was infested with snails, and she said every day, she would walk to school and there would always be a:
CRUNCH
CRUNCH
CRUNCH
CRUNCH
CRUNCH
CRUNCH

Anonymous said...

I think that the snail that was eating the lettuce was so adorable! Especially the way they had that odd music playing. It made the snail seem so cute! I will call it BOB.