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Giant Land Snail seen in camp
The Easter weekend rain chased away the elephants from central Amboseli National Park, but it brought out many other interesting creatures, like the Pangani Giant Land Snail (Achatina megapodus) pictured here. It was about 5:00 PM on Good Friday, and the rain was pelting down. I went out with an umbrella to check on the solar battery bank and surprised this fine specimen who appeared to have been radulating for calcium on some of the elephant lower jaw collection. The Panganis usually only occur south of Kili, but climate change and the heavy rains must be causing a range shift. This is the first one I've seen in Amboseli in nearly 40 years, although Cynthia and Iain Douglas-Hamiliton used to have a pet female in Lake Manyara. They become quite tame, but can play havoc with a small kitchen garden.
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Giant Land Snail
Thu, 2008-10-23 11:58 by alley
How much do these snails weigh? How big are they?
Check the date...
Thu, 2008-10-23 12:20 by hcroze
... as someone pointed out in an earlier posting.
Actually, the big ones are only about 6-7 inches (15-18 cm) stem to stern. Which is not quite as large as I may have intimated, but still a pretty hefty snail.
Thanks for your visit.
_________
HC
Dear Harvey, This is the
Tue, 2008-05-13 02:24 by kenyaafrica
Dear Harvey,
This is the first time I log into te blog and I think it’s a good way for us to learn what is going on in Amboseli. How I would have liked to see that Pangani Giant Land Snail in January when I was there! Yor’re lucky! I would have never imagined that one of that size existed. The other notes are also very nice and the flight above Amboselli was terrific. A knot in my throat appears when I remember. I feel like returning there. Thank you for the work you do. I hope you remember me, I’m Laura Terán from Argentina and we had lunch together in January in Village Market.
Kind Regards,
Laura Terán
Tucumán - Argentina
Check the date...
Tue, 2008-06-03 13:44 by hcroze
Hi, Laura, of course I remember you. Thanks for visiting.
By the way, do check the date of my Pangani Giant Land Snail posting.
All the best, Harvey
_________
HC
wow im afraid of that snail
Mon, 2008-04-14 11:56 by billstanley
i enjoyed your post. i wonder if these garden snail suggestions could get rid of them? :-)
Maybe we should get Cheesy...
Tue, 2008-04-15 10:03 by hcroze
... an internship with the project, so he could spend the next rainy season eating them. Did you watch the revolting clip of him on your referenced site eating a garden snail on a bet. Yuk.
_________
HC
April Fool?
Sat, 2008-04-05 18:37 by paul1nz
When I first saw this entry it was dated 1 April ..... hehe
Giants
Wed, 2008-04-02 08:47 by Anna Martinsson
Harvey you sure it was the rain that chased the elephants away from Amboseli over Easter ;-), if it was not for the date when you posted this photo, we almost could believe it is the land of giants where you are....!
Anna Martinsson
London, UK
Good that they cannot run
Tue, 2008-04-01 20:45 by Petter
A good thing is that one can run away from the Panganinis, as many of my friends call them, they are after all just snails and not very fast. Great photo, H, btw.
Amazing!
Tue, 2008-04-01 19:18 by msowers
Better watch out for that thing, Harvery. It may knock over one of the tents! What luck to see such a fine specimen though... :)
WOW!
Tue, 2008-04-01 20:23 by clm1950
What a HUGE snail! I had no idea they grew to that size.