Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogue Bomb Here. They say that
Speaker 1: everything is bigger in Texas, but that doesn't hold true
Speaker 1: when it comes to snails. And that's not necessarily a
Speaker 1: good thing. And that's because Florida has seen an invasion
Speaker 1: once again of the notorious giant African land snail and
Speaker 1: the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services confirmed the
Speaker 1: presence of the giant African land snails on June two
Speaker 1: in Pascoe County after a master gardener first reported seeing one.
Speaker 1: Six days later, the department quarantined to the area to
Speaker 1: try to contain and treat these invasive snails. The quarantine
Speaker 1: means it's against the law to remove plants, yard waiste, debris,
Speaker 1: compost or building materials from this area without permission. The
Speaker 1: quarantine extends from a radius of about half a mile
Speaker 1: from the identified snail population and may change grow if
Speaker 1: more snails are found. A public information director from the
Speaker 1: department told CNN that these snails likely originated from the
Speaker 1: illegal pet trade. But why are these snails such a problem.
Speaker 1: It turns out they're one of the most invasive pests
Speaker 1: on the planet. You can think of snails as a
Speaker 1: sort of biological cleanup crew. They'll eat just about any
Speaker 1: plant matter and anything that's dead too. This species will
Speaker 1: eat at least five hundred different types of plants, so
Speaker 1: they're potentially devastating to Florida's agriculture and natural areas, but
Speaker 1: they can also be harmful to humans. They can carry
Speaker 1: a parasite known as rat lung worm that's known to
Speaker 1: cause meningitis. Humans can get infected with rat lungworm if
Speaker 1: they eat raw or undercooked snails infected with the parasite,
Speaker 1: and people can also get sick after eating contaminated produce
Speaker 1: such as lettuce. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Speaker 1: says it doesn't know whether the giant African land snails
Speaker 1: in the United States are infected with rat lung worm,
Speaker 1: but it warns people should not handle the snails without
Speaker 1: wearing gloves. It also advises people thoroughly wash fresh produce
Speaker 1: to prevent infection. The snails are illegal to own, import,
Speaker 1: or sell in Florida without a permit for these reasons
Speaker 1: and that name. They're not known as giant snails for nothing.
Speaker 1: These massive mollusks dwarf all others in Florida and anywhere
Speaker 1: else on Earth. Their shells are cone shaped, usually light
Speaker 1: to dark brown in color, with golden stripes that run
Speaker 1: the length. They can grow up to eight inches or
Speaker 1: twenty centimeters long. Compare that to other typical Florida snails,
Speaker 1: which average about one to one and a half inches
Speaker 1: in length. That's about two and a half to four centimeters.
Speaker 1: Researchers believe that the giant African land snail is originally
Speaker 1: from East Africa, though it's now found in the Ivory
Speaker 1: Coast and Morocco and throughout the Indo Pacific basin the Caribbean, Brazil,
Speaker 1: and northernmost Argentina. It was first detected in Havana, Cuba,
Speaker 1: and has rapidly spread across the island ever since. A
Speaker 1: population was discovered in Costa Rica in one as well.
Speaker 1: These snails can survive in many environments, though they do
Speaker 1: require calcium because that's how they grow those shells. They
Speaker 1: thrive in locations rich with limestone, moral and even concrete
Speaker 1: and cement. They live on average between three and five years,
Speaker 1: but can live as long as nine years, and in
Speaker 1: that time they reproduce fast adult snails of these species
Speaker 1: have both male and female sexual organs. They still need
Speaker 1: to mate to produce eggs, but any given snail can
Speaker 1: impregnate any other given snail, or a pair can mutually
Speaker 1: impregnate each other, and once they do, one snail can
Speaker 1: produce between four hundred and a thousand eggs a year.
Speaker 1: The snails bury the eggs in cool soil, and when
Speaker 1: they hatch, juvenile snails eat their eggshells and then burrow
Speaker 1: underground for up to two weeks. If can get bad
Speaker 1: for adult snails, they can bury themselves in soil and
Speaker 1: stay dormant for up to a year. This isn't the
Speaker 1: first time Florida has seen an influx of giant African
Speaker 1: land snails. The pests were first detected in nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: nine and eradicated in nineteen seventy five. The most recent
Speaker 1: eradication took eleven years from one during which the Florida
Speaker 1: Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services worked with the U.
Speaker 1: S d A and canine detector dogs to find and
Speaker 1: remove one hundred and sixty eight thousand, five hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty eight snails from thirty two areas in Broward and
Speaker 1: Miami Dade Counties. Now the work has begun in Pascoe County.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article Giant African land
Speaker 1: snails invade South Florida again on House to Forks dot com,
Speaker 1: written by Sarah Glime. Brain Stuff is production of by
Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com, and
Speaker 1: it's produced by Tyler Klang and Ramsey Yew. Before more
Speaker 1: podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,