People Are Shocked After Learning How Slugs ‘Drink Water”
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Every now and again you learn a fact that is pretty useless in day-to-day life, but still manages to make you question everything you know. How slugs and snails drink water is one of those facts.
You might be thinking, ‘But why does it matter how slugs and snails drink water? I’ve made it this far in life without knowing, what could I possibly gain from learning it now?’
For that, I don’t exactly have an answer, but I can tell you that if you decide not to learn how it’s done, you’ll be missing out.
The question of how a snail drinks water was raised online by a TikToker who uses the handle ‘@cirruslyyesterday’, who shared a video of herself looking somewhat disturbed and announced that she just learned how a snail drinks water, and now will ‘never be the same’.
The TikToker was kind enough to include footage of the situation that left her so shook, apparently taken from the YouTube channel Nature Picture Library, which showed a slimy brown body approaching a drop of water and stretching out as if to open its mouth and enjoy a few sips.
Though the caption of the video indicated the TikToker believed it was a snail, Nature Picture Library claimed it was a slug that had been filmed approaching a water droplet on a leaf in Birmingham, England.
Check out the bizarre scene here:
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Whether a snail or slug, what happened in the clip definitely comes as a surprise, as upon reaching the water the creature seemed to absorb the entire droplet in one go, while at the same time apparently swallowing up its own head and antenna.
Responding to the TikTok video, one user wrote, ‘I don’t know what I expected, but that’s definitely not it.’
Another user responded to dispute the video, claiming they own a snail and ‘this isn’t how they drink’, but rather the clip showed a snail that ‘didn’t know the water was there and got scared’.
Green Matters, meanwhile, explains that snails ‘drink through their mouths and absorb water through their skin’, suggesting the little creatures have all sorts of ways of quenching their thirst, while the University of Florida has confirmed slugs also ‘absorb water through their skin’.
So there you have it: on the off chance you ever find yourself in need of a fun fact, describing how slugs and snails absorb water can be your go-to.
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