Giant African Snail

A giant African snail is seen foraging in Lianhua Hill Park in Futian District. Photos by Isaac Cohen

Giant African snail

One of the most conspicuous species of invertebrate animals in Shenzhen and probably the one people encounter most frequently when walking in the city is the giant African snail (Lissachatina fulica), an extremely invasive species that was introduced to several countries in the world from its original East Africa initially as pets, a source of food, or by researchers that wanted to study the species, or in most instances and like many other animals, by traveling accidentally in the cargo of ships or planes.

行走于深圳的街头巷尾，你会大概率邂逅非洲大蜗牛 一——种十分常见的无脊椎动物。非洲大蜗牛原产于非洲，是臭名昭著的入侵物种，有的被作为宠物、食材、研究材料等贩卖至全球，有的则碰巧搭上某一班国际邮轮或航班，因而被散播到了全世界。

This mollusk is highly adaptable and feeds on almost any species of plant, other snails, or even worms. The snail is relatively big for a terrestrial mollusk, and its beautiful conic shell reaches a maximum length of 20 cm and a width of up to 12 cm.

非洲大蜗牛对环境的适应能力极强，以各种植物、小型蜗牛及幼虫为食。它们是一种体型较大的陆栖蜗牛，成年个体壳长最大可达20厘米，壳宽最大可达12厘米。

A giant African snail is seen foraging in Lianhua Hill Park in Futian District. 

Due to its nature as an invasive species, the giant African snail doesn’t have natural predators in our city. However, some species have eventually learned to feed on them. Its predators in our town include giant centipedes, some insects like ants and beetles, rats, and even some birds like the greater coucal. However, its predation doesn’t come without a price, for this species is highly toxic due to the presence of deadly parasites in their digestive system, making It an unwanted meal for most of the species in Shenzhen.

作为外来物种，非洲大蜗牛在本地理论上并没有天敌，但依然成为了个别捕食者的盘中餐，像巨蜈蚣、蚂蚁、甲虫、甚至褐翅鸦鹃等鸟类都会以它们为食。然而由于非洲大蜗牛消化系统内存在大量有害寄生虫，大部分动物都会对它们敬而远之。

A giant African snail is seen in Lianhua Hill Park in Futian District. 

There is not much we can do as citizens to control the rapid growth of this fascinating species in our city; however, it serves as an excellent opportunity for us to understand the importance of maintaining our ecosystems free from any disturbance and to grow consciousness about the harmful effects of wild species trafficking, obtaining pets from the wild, and the introduction of foreign species into local ecosystems.

虽然我们难以阻止非洲大蜗牛在深圳的迅速蔓延，但是它们的存在也能很好地警醒我们要努力保护本地生态系统不受入侵，并坚决抵制野生动物贸易、捕捉豢养野生动物及引进外来物种等行为。