![]() "Snails are not swallowed as a whole piece like some small slugs may be," he said, "but are ingested in smaller portions after being partially digested outside." ![]() ![]() ![]() These stretchy predators employ the super-handy feeding method of inverting their pharynxes and thereby unleashing digestive fluids upon their victims, though Keo notes the exact method of ingestion depends on the size and type of their meal. "It is very unusual to witness such a behaviour in the wild, especially because land planarians are nocturnal animals," he noted. "Even at the genus level, we can't be sure about the identification without anatomical studies," she told us.Ī graduate student of hers, Piter Keo, who studies the ecology and dietary habits of land planarians, said Mebert was lucky to see (let alone film) the snail attack. This is a genuinely vigorous (and genuinely slimy) struggle, the snail flailing in vain as the planarian whips and writhes and ultimately fully envelops its escargot.ĭr Ana Maria Leal-Zanchet, a biology professor at Brazil's Unisinos (Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos) specialising in flatworms, noted that the exact species of land planarian in the video is impossible to determine from the footage alone. ![]() "Snail vs flatworm" sounds like a subdued and rather "sluggish" predatory encounter. ![]()
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