{"id":14177,"date":"2012-10-02T22:10:53","date_gmt":"2012-10-02T22:10:53","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-10-02T22:10:53","modified_gmt":"2012-10-02T22:10:53","slug":"Snails-in-Japan-shed-tails-to-escape-predators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=14177","title":{"rendered":"Snails in Japan shed tails to escape predators"},"content":{"rendered":"

Snails that can shed their tails to escape much faster-moving predators and then regrow the amputated body section have been discovered living in sub-tropical Japan, a study said Wednesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ability to shed body parts, similar to that found in lizards, crabs and earthworms, has never before been seen in a snail.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Masaki Hoso, a Netherlands-based fellow with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, posted the findings on his website Wednesday<\/strong>, as his paper was published in the British science journal Proceedings of the Royal Society.<\/p>\n

Hoso experimented with “isshikimaimai” snails (Satsuma caliginosa caliginosa) that live on the Okinawan islands of Ishigaki and Iriomote, by feeding them to predator snakes, called Pareas iwasakii.<\/p>\n

“It was found that isshikimaimai often escaped predation by detaching their own tails” before hiding themselves inside their shells, he said on his website, adding the cut-off sections were regenerated “a few weeks later”.<\/p>\n

Hoso also put the same kind of snakes together with a different type of snails from another Okinawan island, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Ishigaki, where there are no snail-eating snakes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“These snails do not cut off their tails at all and in the experiment they were easily eaten by Iwasaki’s snail-eaters,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The autotomy of isshikimaimai is presumed to be a special case of adapting to counter snakes,” said Hoso, a visiting researcher at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden.<\/p>\n

The tail shedding behavior is frequently seen among the snails<\/strong> whose shell has yet to fully develop into an effective defence, the study said.<\/p>\n

When the snails mature, the aperture of their shell becomes disfigured in a way that protects the creature when it retreats inside.<\/p>\n

Hoso said autotomy had been observed in molluscs such as marine shellfish, octopuses, sea slugs and slugs, but this was the first time it had been proved in a land-dwelling snail.<\/p>\n

In an email to AFP, he said he felt very pleased to be able to reveal his findings.<\/p>\n

“I feel honored as a naturalist to be able to introduce to many people surprising aspects of living things that do not often find a place in the sun,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

Hoso noted that while the tails of lizards are structured to be easily detached from the body trunks, no such special structure is present in the tail of isshikimaimai.<\/p>\n

“The mechanism of the autotomy remains to be solved,” he wrote on his website.<\/p>\n

Scientists have previously noted that Iwasaki’s snail-eaters have asymmetrical jaws, with more teeth on the right side to allow for more efficient access to snail shells, which predominantly spiral clockwise.<\/p>\n

Biologists in the US reported last month that the African spiny mouse, a desert rodent that has become an exotic pet, can shed up to 60 percent of the skin on its back and fully regrow the lost tissue.<\/p>\n

The spiny mouse (Acomys) is well-known for eluding hunters by shedding its tail skin.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Understanding the trick could one day help burns victims in need of scar-free skin regeneration, scientists said.<\/p>\n

Source AFP<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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