Snails Survive Being Eaten By Birds

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In a National Geographic article this week, researchers in Japan found live snails, specifically of Tornatellides boeningi, in the feces of Japanese white-eye birds. These snails are generally 0.1 inches long and the process of passing through the bird's gut takes approximately thirty minutes to two hours. A graduate student, Shinichiro Wada, at Tohoku University and his colleagues fed over 150 of these snails to white-eye birds and brown-eared bulbuls and fifteen percent of the snails survived. Scientists believe the reason behind this mystery is the size of the snails prevents its shells from being cracked. In addition, "these snails, like many land snails, have the ability to seal their shells' opening with a mucus film called the epiphragm" says Wada. This is only an assumption made by Wada. The reason behind how these snails survived being eaten remains a mystery.

I found it remarkable that these snails were alive as they were going through these birds' digestive tract. The only species you would think would be alive in another organism are parasitic organisms. It also makes me wonder if these snails would be able to survive be eaten by larger animals or even human beings, who have more developed digestive systems. It is possible that these snails are only capable of surviving being eaten by birds. Reading this article made me curious about the digestive system of birds. It is amazing to know the digestive fluid of these birds were unable to break down the snails' shells or seep through the epiphragm.