Everyday Musings > A snail's life

I've never thought much about snails. In fact, I don't know anything about them. Except that they're slow, slimy and carry their homes on their back. Not a fantastic impression to have of anyone. And then I saw Slinkachu's Inner City Snail. He calls it his slow moving art project. And I had to know more.

Snails cannot hear. Not just that, they have poor eyesight too. So they depend on their sense of touch and smell to find food. They are more active at night, mostly to avoid the deluge of predators in the day and to escape from the sun so it wouldn't sap all the slime. Why would anyone willingly want slime? The thick slime ensures that their soft mass can crawl across anything, even the edge of a razor, and not get hurt. Respect.

We call postman delivered messages snail mail. We say that traffic's moving at a snail's pace. I checked just how slow that really is. Research says, they move up to 23 inches in one hour. That's slower than slow motion. But before you judge them for being slow pokes, how fast do you reckon we'd go if we were carrying our homes on our back.

Snails can mate with themselves and thus even one can reproduce in an aquarium or pond. Most snails lay eggs but some, like the trapdoor snail, give birth. Some snails have been known to live up to 15 years. And the biggest any of them have ever got is about 15 inches. And the thing on menu cards called Escargot is actually a garden snail. Such a delicacy that they even have a day named after it. May 24th, National Escargot Day.

Now that you know so much about the little slimy chap, here' a bit on what Inner City Snail is all about. Will Self, known as Slinkachu, a London street artist, uses the snail shell as a medium of 'art'. His says, 'No snails were harmed, they just had their homes vandalized'. So you'll find a bunch of graffiti snails crawling around London. He paints their shells (non toxic paint for those who're about to hit send on a 'save the snail' mail) and leaves them be wherever he found them. He even combines some with his Little People Project, where he paints miniature plastic people and lets the two interact. One snail was given a graffiti-style urban revamp with a new name – John – spelt out across its shell. Another had the Tube logo painted on as well as acquiring a couple of little passengers. And one had an illegal occupancy notice stuck on its shell. The snail shell graffiti is eye catching and makes one see the streets from their point of view.

Slinkachu does make them quite lovable and watchable. So if any of you are tempted to keep one as a pet, all you'll need an aquarium or large jar with a mesh wire lid or a plastic lid with holes in it, dirt, plants, rocks, a few snails. And of course, a lettuce that it can munch on for a week. Did I hear someone mutter slowpoke?