Snail Discovered That Can Survive Digestion By Birds 82
smitty777 writes "A recent article in the Journal of Biogeography describes research showing that 15% of the snails devoured by birds on a Japanese island can survive the digestive process. This is thought to be the mechanism by which the snail populations can migrate from island to island, similar to the way plant seeds are deposited. From the article: 'In the lab, scientists fed the birds with the snails to find out whether any survived the digestive process. "We were surprised that a high rate, about 15 percent, of snails were still alive after passing through the gut of [the] birds," explained researcher Shinichiro Wada.'" As bad as riding in a bird's digestive tract sounds, I'd take it over flying standby on a puddle jumper.
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YEAH THE REG ALREADY DID THIS !!
Did you know that Slashdot is a "digest" of reader submitted "tips" about stories on... wait for it... get this: other web sites and sources?
It also helps the snails survive in their new home (Score:1)
After all, what bird wants to eat something that looks and smells like bird poop?
Does that count as an unladen swallow? (Score:3)
TSA (Score:5, Funny)
Re:TSA (Score:5, Funny)
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I'd much rather just give them the bird.
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Would you be angry if a snail came squirming out of your ass?
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Some people would pay good money for that experience.
Flying... (Score:5, Funny)
Pretty much like flying coach on an airline...
Re:Flying... (Score:4, Funny)
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Where have you been (Score:1)
... you look/smell like shit!
Two words: (Score:1)
Biological Dropships.
I'm not the only one who thinks that's awesome, right?
Re:Two words: (Score:5, Funny)
starship poopers?
(best I have, sorry)
You've not enough Overlords! (Score:1)
Bird Discovered (Score:4, Interesting)
...that fails to properly digest snails.
Leucochloridium paradoxum? (Score:2, Interesting)
Perhaps this would explain the evolution of Leucochloridium paradoxum, the flatworm that turns snails into zombies for the purpose of being eaten by birds and hence transport.
I won't be eating escargot now... (Score:1)
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uhm... say! Do you eat eggs?
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I think the bird has a different opening for the eggs. Probably similar to the way mammals give birth, only not fully developed.
(IOW, you weren't shitted out, more like pissed, but even THAT isn't totally correct).
Re:I won't be eating escargot now... (Score:4, Informative)
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Not everything - birds can vomit, after all.
There's only one hole... (Score:1)
They have only one hole, called the "Cloaca".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloaca
However, when they lay an egg, they turn it inside out. Think bird goatse...
http://www.afn.org/~poultry/egghen.htm
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Except that eggs don't come from a bird's ass.
But your mom could have been an exception....
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And no one would buy it anyway, escargot being an animal product.
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I am a peschitarian. I only eat food that looks like Joe Peschi. I eat a lot of ham.
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Fool! I say we bioengineer escargots to do this.
1. Eat
2. Poop
3. Wash
4. Profit!
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,,,and you don't want to know where Toothpaste comes from!
What about the shell? (Score:2)
Does the shell survive? Do those poor birds have to pass a shell? Doesn't it break? Does that injure the bird?
So many questions, if only I hadn't taken a solemn vow to never RTFA.
Splendid. (Score:2)
And with that mental image, I am off to prepare some dinner.
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Do the birds get anything out of it? (Score:2)
Is this a kind of symbiotic relationship?
Do the birds get any nutrition / energy from it?
Yes... (Score:1)
They get to digest 85% of the snails.
A new delicacy (Score:2)
15% at re-try? (Score:2)
Was there something about that particular 15% of the snails? I mean, if those 15% tried the ride again, would all of them make it or is it just something about the way these birds eat snails that allow 15% unharmed through each time?
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At an average of 2.5mm the micro snails fared much better than larger species in previous studies whose shells were severely damaged when eaten by birds.
I suspect being uncrushed is the criteria for survival. So no, only 2.25% would remain out of the original group if you had them redigest the 15% survivors.
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Thanks, I don't think I've ever heard the singular used properly for that word. I wasn't even aware that it existed, and I'm fairly literate.
Reedit redux (Score:2)
This was FPd on Reddit yesterday. I have noticed a lot of recycled reddshit on here lately.
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I have been reading more reddit than /. lately, and I missed that one.
I think the signal:noise here is a bit higher than reddit (scary, I know!) Or it could be that there is just less signal here to pick through. This place is a ghost town!
Back in the day, this story would have like 500 comments by now. As of now, this story has 37 comments.
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Yeah I hope that Rob Malda and Taco sold their stakes, or else they will probably have to get real jobs again.
[Shell joke here- (Score:1)
Reminds me... (Score:2)
...of the old joke about the worm looking out the bird's ass as they fly high in the sky...
"You wouldn't shit me, would ya?"
I see where this is going (Score:3)
In 100,000 years, they'll stop passing through the birds altogether and start latching onto the stomach lining to leech nutrients from the host.
In 200,000 years, they'll develop an acid-based circulatory system analogous to the host's stomach.
In 500,000 years, they'll develop exoskeletons to better locate new hosts.
In 1 MILLION years, they'll grow too large to subsist on stomach linings. Then, they'll start bursting out of the host's chest cavity. I think we'd better nip this on in the bud.
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There are those who say this has already happened. [wordpress.com]
I got a nasty feeling about this... (Score:1)
You know you're a nerd if... (Score:1)
I'd take it over flying standby on a puddle jumper.
...makes you immediately think of Stargate Atlantis. Apparently Dictionary.com says it's "a light plane, especially one traveling only short distances or making many stops." Huh, never heard that one before.
Important Note (Score:1)
I confess I haven't read it. But...all these people asking questions...
The summary says "15% survive". Not "15% survive unscathed."
To all the people wondering about what's special about the remaining 15%... well...
I remind you--you could live if I tore your arm off seared the arteries shut.
For those 15% coming out a bird's ass alive--I imagine they aren't exactly in great shape.
They're made of armor and rubber seals. (Score:2)
Not surprising a snail can survive a few hours in a bird's gut.
The question is how can a bird survive passing a snail through its gut.
I thought I had it bad (Score:2)
Digestion? (Score:2)
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"hmm this quarter pounder came back out about the same, I suppose it's ok to give it pass #2" <chomp>
Eels Are Faster... (Score:4, Interesting)
When my dad was in his teens, WAY back when, he was fishing for eels out on the ice of Sag Harbor bay.
You cut a hole in the ice and jabbed the eel spear into the mud on the bottom. The eels would get caught between the tines, and you'd pull up the pole and let the eel squirm out into the bucket. Sometimes, you'd get one that was much too small, and you just shake it off on the ice near the hole.
Well, a seagull came down and grabbed the eel before it could escape back under the ice. The bird gobbled it down, but it took a few tries. The bird stood there, watching and waiting for any more. A few minutes later, the bird started doing a funny kind of dance, and the previously devoured eel slid right out the back of the bird.
Still alive, highly pissed off and wriggling like crazy to get back in the water.
The seagull just turned around, grabbed it and swallowed it down again.
It stayed in that time.