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Sticker of Giant tiger land snail
Bug card No. 0614 of 1,500

Giant tiger land snail

Achatina achatina
Name means: “from the Greek word for agate, a stripy stone”
Eats: PlantsSnails, slugs and wormsRainforests and junglesNo legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The giant tiger land snail is the biggest land snail in the world. Its shell has stripes like a tiger and can be longer than a grown-up's hand. It breathes air and slides through the forests of West Africa.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect at all, it has no legs! But kids find it on every bug hunt, so it lives in Bug Wiki too.
Lives in
West Africa, near the coast from Sierra Leone to Nigeria
Length
9 to 15 cm (3.5 to 5.9 in)
the width of the shell
Top speed
about 0.07 km/h (0.04 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
It does not bite or sting. Wash your hands after touching one, like after touching any snail.
What does it eat?
It eats nuts, flowers, fruit, stems and leaves. Sometimes it also eats ants, worms, beetles and small snails to get extra calcium for its shell.
For real!Photo of Giant tiger land snail
Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Giant tiger land snail about 15 cm long (5.9 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)A house cat about 50 cm (20 in)
as long as 5 toy building bricks in a rowabout as long as your handcould run across a dinner table in 51 seconds

How big is Giant tiger land snail compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its shell can grow to 18 centimetres long, and the biggest ones found in the wild were 30 centimetres.

2

Every snail is both a boy and a girl at the same time.

3

One snail can lay up to 1,200 eggs in a year.

4

Some people keep it as a pet, but it is not allowed into many countries because it could become a pest there.

5

Its scientific name comes from the Greek word for agate, a stripy stone.

you asked

Most asked questions about Giant tiger land snail

?How big does the giant tiger land snail get?

Its shell is often 18 centimetres long, and the biggest ever found in the wild was 30 centimetres.

?What does a giant African snail eat?

Mostly plants, like leaves, fruit and flowers, but sometimes small animals like worms and ants too.

?Can you keep a giant African snail as a pet?

Some people do, but in many countries, like the United States, it is not allowed because it can harm crops.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Achatina achatina
Named by
Linnaeus, 1758
Group
Snails, slugs and worms
Family
Achatinidae
Classification
Gastropoda > Stylommatophora > Achatinidae
Lives on
Africa
Also known as
Giant African snail

Where the facts come from

  1. Achatina achatina (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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