Snail Noir
Author: admin
A Naif in the Forest by Darrell Berger
Wing Tips to Hiking Boots: Musings of a New, Full-Time Poconos Resident
This is the biggest snail I’ve ever seen in the wild, if the sidewalk behind the Kalypso Bar in Honalei, Kauai can be considered wild. It was moving rapidly, by snail standards, across the sidewalk. Did it need help? It was about 8 inches long, not likely to be ignored. As I bent down for a better look, it seemed to look up at me and say, “No problem, buddy, I got it together.” A snail with an attitude.
The attitude is justified. It is a Giant African Snail, introduced to Hawaii in the 1930s by Japanese immigrants to decorate gardens and become pets. It is among the most invasive species on the island and in fact, the world. It is a tireless and voracious eater of all kinds of plants. Indoors it will eat plaster and other construction material, weakening buildings. It is on high quarantine in the US.
I was wise not to touch it. Its slime can cause meningitis in humans. Its variegated shell is among the hardest on earth. It is a hermaphrodite, able to manifest both genders. When mating, the larger snail becomes female to accommodate the extra energy needed to reproduce. It has been kept in many cultures as both food and pet because they can live as long as ten years, and, as I discovered when face to face with this guy, can have quite a personality.
Invasive species, both plant and animal, are a terrible problem on Kauai. Only about five percent of the plants on the island are native. Many new species adapt to the environment and are not problem, but others, like this snail, eat everything or overwhelm the environment, destroying the natives. Complicating the process is that many invasive species are, like the giant snail, quite beautiful and exotic. One sees some places where all the trees have been cut for many acres, after invasive trees have completely obliterated the native.
The Giant African snail illustrates the theme of every film noir ever made: that which is beautiful may also be deadly.
The Naif returns to our part of the forest next week.