Snail Digestion Bird – Research has discovered a bird digestion system is not capable of killing a snail. I know this may sound a bit weird to you, but allow me to explain.
A group of researchers from Tohoku University, Japan published their findings in the Journal of Biogeography recently. They found tiny land snails are able to survive the digestion system of a bird and continue to live after it has been excreted.
Snail Digestion Bird
Snail Digestion Bird
Apparently, there was a Japanese eye witness to this phenomenon. They were present when the a bird released the snail in its droppings. The observer noticed the snail was still alive.
However, this doesn’t mean all snails survive the digestion system of birds. In fact, according to the researchers, they discovered 15% percent of snails eaten by birds are able to survive the digestion process of a bird. This is much more than anticipated, but far from 100% survival rate.
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The interesting part of the research is the discovery that this may be explanation for the spread of land snails throughout the world. They are not migrating like many had suspected in the past, but are being spread by the digestion system of birds.
It is understood this isn’t the only way the creatures are being spread about the world, but it does offer good reasoning to how they get from one place to another. Depending on the types of birds eating the snails and where they take them.
This is not an isolated incident in nature, by the way. In fact, researchers have well been aware of plant seeds being dispersed by birds. The birds would swoop to eat the plant seeds, then later discrete them out at a different location spreading the plants around the region and world.
In addition, researchers have been aware this is also a patter when it comes to pond snails. They are able to survive the digestion system of some birds to be spread to different parts of the region and world, but the scientific community wasn’t sure about the land snails until now. Even though only 15% survive, this is a significant number definitely involved in the spreading of the land snail population.
The sort of snails at the center of the research were Tornatellides Boeningi. These tiny land snails were used in the research project. At the lab, the scientist fed the birds with the snails to discover how many would survive the digestion system. This is how they came up with the 15% number of survival rate.
There is no doubt more test will be run in the near future to discover and learn more about this process, but it is interesting to note this could be a possible answer for the spread of land snails. – Snail Digestion Bird
