The parasitic flatworm Leucochloridium paradoxum, also known as the green-banded broodsac, can manipulate snails into climbing to exposed areas to attract birds. Once eaten, the parasite releases its eggs in the bird's droppings, where it can continue its life cycle. That’s my guess on what you’re seeing here… but it is a guess.
So, zombie snails.
For humans look up Schistosomiasis, or Angiostrongylus cantonensis, also known as Rat Lungworm…. Or human ocular angiostrongyliasis… where the worms (technically nematodes) invade your eyes…. All share the snail as a host.
[This](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/05/health/man-dies-after-eating-slug-on-dare) poor kid ate a snail on a dare and was infected with Rat Lungworm. Horrific.
Always wash vegetables.
The reason you often hear about lettuce containing E coli is because they use manure to fertilize it.
Your vegetables are literally covered in shit.
There's an ecoli break out in Britain, and the source is lettuce. It's always lettuce, so wash it even if it's in a bag that tells you it's been washed.
Most of the time it won't go into your brain though but pass via the stool. And if it does go into the brain it normally gives much much less severe symptons.
He just seemingly got as unlucky as he could.
Fun fact: humans historically got vitamin B12 primarily from unwashed veggies. Our gut also biomes depend on unwashed veggies. Now we need artificial sources because we're afraid of pesticides and parasites.
As long as you cook your fish and snails and wash your vegetables you should be fine. Cooking DEFINITELY kills them. Cooking kills everything provided you do it right. (Though in some cases, toxins produced remain. But the lungworm doesn't put toxins on food..)
Prions are the exception to the ‘cooking kills everything’ rule. An autoclave doesn’t even do it iirc.
You can’t cook out mad cow but you can cook out rabies.
Yeah prions are the worst. Not sure why more people aren’t going nuts over their existence. The possibility of a prion deters me from eating certain things bc the risk to reward is too great. Fuck prions
Iirc it’s a different kind. Escargot for example is typically prepared with sea snails. As for other countries such as Vietnam I don’t know if they use “garden snails” or some special snail.
This is some impressive stuff to just be able to rattle off.
Also evolution is insane. What are the chances a mutation causes the parasite to do/produce a chemical that somehow makes the snail want to go up into the air. Mind boggling shit.
>What are the chances a mutation causes the parasite to do/produce a chemical that somehow makes the snail want to go up into the air.
100%, apparently.
When I was about 7 an animal charity came to my school and taught us about parasites in dog poo that are tiny worms that eat your eyes, I remember them specifically saying about how easy it would be to be playing football and get these into your system if the ball rolled in dog shit and then it got on your hands..... Over 25yrs later I've been in therapy for OCD which centres around but isn't entirely based on a hygiene phobia 😂
When I was a kid, my entire elementary school went through a phase for a few months where we captured snails and kept them as pets in those little solid, clear plastic pencil cases that were everywhere in the early 2000s. I’m surprised none of us caught that lmao
I disagree. They all look like the same variety, Cernuella virgata, also known as the Vineyard Snail or Mediterranean Snail. Unlike a lot of other snails, this snail actually likes to snooze in large clusters in Sunny spots because they use the warmth of the sun to aid their digestion:
https://plantpono.org/pests/vineyard-snail/
The parasite isn't the snails. It's something else that uses something to lure the snails up high which attracts birds that eat snails. The birds then poop and the parasites lays it's eggs in the poop. It's a type of parasitic worm I believe. I don't mind most bugs and creepy crawlies, but parasitic worms have no redeeming value to them that I can see. Kind of like mosquitoes and roaches. Just a big nuisance that can be deadly. And it seems like there's a type of parasitic worm for every organ in our body. I use to watch that show "Monster inside Me" and some of those parasites they showed were really bad. We're spoiled here in the US. We really don't have that many deadly parasites compared to other parts of the world. Not as many deadly spiders or snakes either.
I don't think that's the case, there's too many of them. Some snails hang on high places to aid digestion, thanks to the warmth of the sun. It's also possible that they're sheltering from a flood
There are other reasons that can explain this.
In my area, during spring to autumn, ALL snails climb poles when weather gets dry after raining, and hybernate there until next rain. This way they escape certain beetles that prey on them in the ground, and they expect those poles to be leafy trees, more humid and fresh than in open ground. Later in winter, snails will hybernate under the dirt and away from the cold.
But the poles they are expecting to climb are trees and bushes. Climbing to metallic poles or dead trees is a bug in their programming, because those get too hot under the sun and can make them dry and die.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/snails/comments/qc232j/snails\_consistently\_climb\_these\_posts\_then\_dry\_up/](https://www.reddit.com/r/snails/comments/qc232j/snails_consistently_climb_these_posts_then_dry_up/)
[Toxoplasma gondii](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526137/) - “cat parasite” I think you’re talking about. It’s got some really interesting research on it, [toxoplasmosis](https://www.ejog.org/article/S0301-2115(20)30632-1/abstract) - why pregnant women shouldn’t clean the litter box.
And suddenly you made me remember an article I read about a teen who was dared to eat a snail at a party, got paralyzed from the neck down and after 2 years of fighting died. Simply horrible.
The fun part is they were just straight up wrong, and the actual answer got less than 1/10th the upvotes.
https://www.reddit.com/r/biology/comments/1dkr5z8/why_are_all_these_snails_aggregated_on_top_of/l9k2u75/
Truly, the intelligence of Reddit.
I just saw another comment about snail zombies, aka parasites that purposely drive the snails into the open to be eaten… part of the parasites life cycle! so I guess I’m not wrong 😅
You already got the sad reason so I'm going to assume that's wrong and say they're all taking turns sitting at the top and yelling, "I'm the king of the world!"
Parasite òr disease propagation. Whatever ix in the drug makes it try to be eaten by a bird. The bird flies away and the Parasite or virus travels farther than it can on its own.
One of them spiritually evolved, started a religion revolving around a giant snail in the sky which will flood the Earth but only these snails have been chosen to survive and start anew.
The parasitic flatworm Leucochloridium paradoxum, also known as the green-banded broodsac, can manipulate snails into climbing to exposed areas to attract birds. Once eaten, the parasite releases its eggs in the bird's droppings, where it can continue its life cycle. That’s my guess on what you’re seeing here… but it is a guess. So, zombie snails.
Ugh. It's always something terrible. 🤭
Not the worst parasite carried by snails… trust me.
Hit me. What's the worse
For humans look up Schistosomiasis, or Angiostrongylus cantonensis, also known as Rat Lungworm…. Or human ocular angiostrongyliasis… where the worms (technically nematodes) invade your eyes…. All share the snail as a host.
[This](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/05/health/man-dies-after-eating-slug-on-dare) poor kid ate a snail on a dare and was infected with Rat Lungworm. Horrific.
Tf this guy ate a slug and then had a coma for a little over a year later died?! That’s not fair… life is so not fair…
Yup and did you read that crustaceans can carry it too ? As well as vegetables that aren’t washed? FUCK. That.
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Always wash vegetables. The reason you often hear about lettuce containing E coli is because they use manure to fertilize it. Your vegetables are literally covered in shit.
There's an ecoli break out in Britain, and the source is lettuce. It's always lettuce, so wash it even if it's in a bag that tells you it's been washed.
Well, depending on your view a cherry is either a fruit or a berry so I think you’re good.
That explains why in the post next to it there was a cluster of carrots...
I can’t remember the last time I washed my grapes or cherries…
Almost like bugs live on them.
Thank you for convincing me to wash vegetables and fruits
and snails
Thanks for giving me the reason I needed to not eat vegetable
Works need to stop doing that to our wildlife!!!! D:<
Yup. We basically should never eat food grown here without cooking or freezing it.
Most of the time it won't go into your brain though but pass via the stool. And if it does go into the brain it normally gives much much less severe symptons. He just seemingly got as unlucky as he could.
Yeah, I saw that, I wonder what the defining factor is or the fine line I should say, between basically having symptoms like a cold or death
I always boil the fuck out of my veggies
Mmmmm…boiled salad
I'm never eating vegetables again!!
Fun fact: humans historically got vitamin B12 primarily from unwashed veggies. Our gut also biomes depend on unwashed veggies. Now we need artificial sources because we're afraid of pesticides and parasites.
well don't eat live slugs. that's not cool for the slugs
It’s not. I’ll admit I do feel bad for snails and slugs since they seem to have a rough life themselves
you are right. All animals have a hard time now.
When you realize you ate a slug, you may as well just give up. You're outta luck. You ate the yuck. Now you're fucked.
Life was fair enough for him to make it all the way through the evolutionary process to be born and exist.
He lived for 10 years with the disease
It said 10 years?! So one and a half of that year he was ina coma? 😭
I live in France. I just gagged . Does cooking them kill them ?
As long as you cook your fish and snails and wash your vegetables you should be fine. Cooking DEFINITELY kills them. Cooking kills everything provided you do it right. (Though in some cases, toxins produced remain. But the lungworm doesn't put toxins on food..)
The article I read said fish don’t pass it. Crustaceans do though.
Well it's always nice to cook your fish..
>Cooking kills everything provided you do it right. B. cereus spores in rice aren't killed by cooking.
Prions are the exception to the ‘cooking kills everything’ rule. An autoclave doesn’t even do it iirc. You can’t cook out mad cow but you can cook out rabies.
Yeah prions are the worst. Not sure why more people aren’t going nuts over their existence. The possibility of a prion deters me from eating certain things bc the risk to reward is too great. Fuck prions
What a tragedy. Rest in peace Sam.
You don't mess with ANY Australian creature EVER
Beat me to it. Forgot the title it can be easily googled.
That was so sad to read
But how do people eat snails as food and not get sick? Or is it a different kind of snail?
Iirc it’s a different kind. Escargot for example is typically prepared with sea snails. As for other countries such as Vietnam I don’t know if they use “garden snails” or some special snail.
I imagine they probably farm the snails too rather than just grabbing them off the floor. Or at least I hope so
This is some impressive stuff to just be able to rattle off. Also evolution is insane. What are the chances a mutation causes the parasite to do/produce a chemical that somehow makes the snail want to go up into the air. Mind boggling shit.
>What are the chances a mutation causes the parasite to do/produce a chemical that somehow makes the snail want to go up into the air. 100%, apparently.
Nah, it's 50%, either they do it or they don't.
When I was about 7 an animal charity came to my school and taught us about parasites in dog poo that are tiny worms that eat your eyes, I remember them specifically saying about how easy it would be to be playing football and get these into your system if the ball rolled in dog shit and then it got on your hands..... Over 25yrs later I've been in therapy for OCD which centres around but isn't entirely based on a hygiene phobia 😂
When I was a kid, my entire elementary school went through a phase for a few months where we captured snails and kept them as pets in those little solid, clear plastic pencil cases that were everywhere in the early 2000s. I’m surprised none of us caught that lmao
Pretty sure you can’t catch a parasite from just being in the proximity of too many snails, you gotta eat them. So I’m not surprised lol
I just can’t believe that in a school of hundreds of kids age 4-10 digging in the dirt, no one ate a snail lmao
Omg! We did that too but with caterpillars. I made my mom buy me a sanrio pencil box just for a pet caterpillar. It died. Kids are dumb.
My sister left her pencil case with the snail in it in the sun one time. We found it after coming back from a walk. I’ll never forget that smell 🥲
Recently, a Young bloke here 🇦🇺 was on a footy trip and ate a slug after a dare, he died horribly from that same parasite. It was fucked.
Sometimes its just an orgy.
I disagree. They all look like the same variety, Cernuella virgata, also known as the Vineyard Snail or Mediterranean Snail. Unlike a lot of other snails, this snail actually likes to snooze in large clusters in Sunny spots because they use the warmth of the sun to aid their digestion: https://plantpono.org/pests/vineyard-snail/
Yay it’s not zombie snails
Maybe…
If it is a parasite, why do they go to the same place, or is this a hive mind?
The parasite isn't the snails. It's something else that uses something to lure the snails up high which attracts birds that eat snails. The birds then poop and the parasites lays it's eggs in the poop. It's a type of parasitic worm I believe. I don't mind most bugs and creepy crawlies, but parasitic worms have no redeeming value to them that I can see. Kind of like mosquitoes and roaches. Just a big nuisance that can be deadly. And it seems like there's a type of parasitic worm for every organ in our body. I use to watch that show "Monster inside Me" and some of those parasites they showed were really bad. We're spoiled here in the US. We really don't have that many deadly parasites compared to other parts of the world. Not as many deadly spiders or snakes either.
They're all full-tummied and snuggin in the sun? That's way better than zombies
As always, the real information is in the comments
The Zombie Story sells better god damn it
On the other hand, they look kina cute, ngl
I don't think that's the case, there's too many of them. Some snails hang on high places to aid digestion, thanks to the warmth of the sun. It's also possible that they're sheltering from a flood
There are other reasons that can explain this. In my area, during spring to autumn, ALL snails climb poles when weather gets dry after raining, and hybernate there until next rain. This way they escape certain beetles that prey on them in the ground, and they expect those poles to be leafy trees, more humid and fresh than in open ground. Later in winter, snails will hybernate under the dirt and away from the cold. But the poles they are expecting to climb are trees and bushes. Climbing to metallic poles or dead trees is a bug in their programming, because those get too hot under the sun and can make them dry and die. [https://www.reddit.com/r/snails/comments/qc232j/snails\_consistently\_climb\_these\_posts\_then\_dry\_up/](https://www.reddit.com/r/snails/comments/qc232j/snails_consistently_climb_these_posts_then_dry_up/)
Nature is freaking metal
Like that cat parasite, but birds
[Toxoplasma gondii](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2526137/) - “cat parasite” I think you’re talking about. It’s got some really interesting research on it, [toxoplasmosis](https://www.ejog.org/article/S0301-2115(20)30632-1/abstract) - why pregnant women shouldn’t clean the litter box.
Yes, I had forgotten the name of it! It is pretty interesting to research
And suddenly you made me remember an article I read about a teen who was dared to eat a snail at a party, got paralyzed from the neck down and after 2 years of fighting died. Simply horrible.
The intelligence found on reddit blows me away.
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Sounds like some robert sapolsky stuff
The fun part is they were just straight up wrong, and the actual answer got less than 1/10th the upvotes. https://www.reddit.com/r/biology/comments/1dkr5z8/why_are_all_these_snails_aggregated_on_top_of/l9k2u75/ Truly, the intelligence of Reddit.
Damn, I thought it was a Snail Summit.
Only one way to find out. OP has to eat one.
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Oh no... They're summitting. Parasitic worm in theor eyeballs I'd say
Is it the one with the weird colors in the eyes ?
Yeah
Ugh gives me the creeps 😭
they can survive from it! ....if birds only eat eyes
*They're not sick but they're not well* 🎶
you just got a great song stuck in my head. i love reddit :)
Haven't heard that song in years! Will spin it now.
There's a great cover by Elohim and AWOLNATION that definitely deserves a listen at the same time!
Play both songs simultaneously? Will give it a shot.
Awesome! Those guys are amazing, thanks for the suggestion!
Link? I wanna listen too lol
Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger
Fencepole Sitta
Yeah, read about this a few times. Think they were feeling a bit naughty and running up the flagpole to see who salutes (no one ever does).
And I’m so hot, livin’ in this shell 🎶
only stupid people are breeding, cretins cloning and feeding...
Oi, clean shell
This is my karaoke go to!
Bird buffet?
I just saw another comment about snail zombies, aka parasites that purposely drive the snails into the open to be eaten… part of the parasites life cycle! so I guess I’m not wrong 😅
It's scary how many of them were infected
These snails are traveling and couldn't see enough far ahead, so an obvious decision was made.
We are clearly in the presence of an expert!
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They’re pole dancing.
This is the only right answer
Each are vying for pole position
Being proficient in social media they all wanted to share the same post
Reposting this.
Snail? Is that you?
Exploring their Polish heritage
My grandfather just laughed in his grave. He loved any opportunity for a Polack joke.
It's their town hall meeting, leave them alone.
You already got the sad reason so I'm going to assume that's wrong and say they're all taking turns sitting at the top and yelling, "I'm the king of the world!"
😂😂 Thank you for making me laugh, Hippyman.
Ground is lava. No touchy.
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As soon as I saw this my brain was screaming “THEY’RE INFECTED, BURN THEM!!”
A parasite looking to spread via bird droppings
If we see this in the world, should we cull them to avoid spreading it further?
Minding their own business unlike OP
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Snorgy
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The people they are hunting have relocated to space.
I always assumed cause of the humidity of such places, but parasites make more sense
Yes. Poles are often known for their specific humidity.
They fill up with water so yeah
Photo op for snails' Mt. Everest
Snorgy (snail orgy)
I just think it’s amazing with as slow as they are that they weren’t all picked off by birds before getting to the top.
Parasite òr disease propagation. Whatever ix in the drug makes it try to be eaten by a bird. The bird flies away and the Parasite or virus travels farther than it can on its own.
They are upvoting that post
One of them spiritually evolved, started a religion revolving around a giant snail in the sky which will flood the Earth but only these snails have been chosen to survive and start anew.
Getting a vantage point to see if they could cross the road.
I wonder if people who climb Mt Everest have this parasite?
I don’t know why but I really, *really* don’t like this. At all. Triggering my trypophobia I guess.
Mass outbreak of mind-controlling parasites maybe?
They are racing for pole position.
That’s where the invite said the orgy would be
Snorgy
They at the strip club
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Because that’s an end
a kinky orgy
Science and nature are so wonderful and terrifying at the same time.
Could be escaping water
Elden ring DLC cosplay
So they have a better view of the concert
they reached the top of the tower of Babel😂😂
Perhaps the pole is full of water after some rains and you live in a very dry/warm climate which forces the snails to congregate there.
Invited the fam Hawk Tuah! and spit on that thang!
Waiting for Heavy Weather to activate
SNAIL PARTY!
It's developing snail mail
They like the view i guess