Wander through your garden, or walk along a stream, and it's likely you'll see a snail - small, squishy animals with shells on their backs. You may also encounter slugs, which are slow-moving animals related to snails. They look alike except that slugs don't have shells. One thing they all have in common, though, is that they move slowly. Here's an example of just how slow they are: the World Snail Racing Championships, held in the UK, pits the quickest snails against one another in a "foot race". The fastest snail on record sped through the course at a blazing 0.06 miles per hour. Or to look at it another way, if you were that slow, it would take you about three minutes to get a bite of food from your plate to your mouth.
Molluscs are everywhere
This story is from the Issue 62 edition of The Week Junior Science+Nature UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Issue 62 edition of The Week Junior Science+Nature UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Is gaming good for you?
Gaming is great fun, but some worry it could be bad for young people's health.
What are wormholes?
Find out if space has secret passages that give shortcuts through the universe.
TITANS
The biggest dinosaurs grew to truly epic proportions. Peter Gallivan tells the super-sized tale of these giant reptiles and discovers why they grew so large.
Space toilets
Doing your business in space is not as easy as you might think.
A visitor from outer space
Scientists have spent years looking for alien life, but what if it found us first?
Gladys West
Meet the hidden figure behind the navigation system in your smartphone.
JUPITER KING OF PLANETS
Blast off with BBC Sky At Night's Ezzy Pearson as she takes you on a voyage to explore the largest planet in our solar system.
Would you eat insects to save the planet?
Some say you should be eating beetles for breakfast and locusts for lunch.
Why are people allergic to things?
Find out why your body is sensitive to some substances.
WHIZ KIDS
Claire Karwowski asks what makes people tick and if there is a secret to being smart.