Speed of snails



"It's always difficult to study the form 
with snails because they hide inside 
their shells - but it's actually much 
easier to commentate on the race because 
it's slower than horse racing"
Racing commentator John McCririck

Although speed is not usually associated with snails,there are people who organize snail
races.Ofcourse speed is a relative thing,how fast a snail can and will go depends on a 
couple of things.The surface on which a snail creeps is an important factor.A snail on
glass will go faster than a snail on gravelly soil.Freshwater snails will crawl quicker
than their terrestrial colleagues.The physical condition is a factor and if a snail
is in danger it will try to find a safe place fast.
Here are some numbers to illustrate this:
 

  


    
Bibliographic source
    
Speed

      
    
metric

      Result

  
    

    
The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1999. New 
        Jersey: Primedia, 1998: 572.
      
"Garden snail, 0.03 mph"
      
0.013 m/s
    

    

    
Branson, Branley Allan. World & I. 11, 5 
        (May 1996): 166.
      
"A large banana slug has been 
        observed to cover 6.5 inches in 120 minutes. At that rate, a tortoise 
        would seem fleet-footed."
      
0.000023 m/s

    
    

    
The Guinness Book of World Records 1998. Stanford, 
        CT: Guinness, 1997: 144.
      
"A garden snail named Archie, 
        owned by Carl Branhorn of Pott Row, England, covered a 13 inch course 
        in 2 minutes at the 1995 World Snail Racing Championships, held in Longhan, 
        England."
      
0.0028 m/s
    

    
As 
      It Happened 1975: Snail Racer [Real Media File]. Interview with Chris 
      Hudson of Brighton, England by Barbara Frum. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 
      1975.
    
"Well, the fastest snail that I've 
      ever had covered a two foot course, which is a standard course for a snail 
      race... in some three minutes flat. Now any mathematicians listening to 
      the program will realize straight away that works out at 132 hours to travel 
      a full mile."
    
0.0034 m/s

  

  
table courtesy of this site

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