African Giant Snails

The Achatinidae represent a group of African terrestrial pulmonate Snails. About 17 genera are described, each containing several species. Best known are species of the genus Achatina Lamarck, 1799. The snails presented in the film may represent Achatina fulica, which is also called "giant African land snail". It can appear as an invasive species and is able to cause damage to agriculture, but also natural ecosystems. The native distribution is in East Africa, artficially, it has also been found in China, Taiwan or Hawaii. The snail represents a well-liked pet, which is famous for being easily cultivatable in terraria.
The shell of adults can reach a length of about 20 cm. The big shell, visible in the film, has a length of 15 cm. As members of the Stylommatophora, the snails reproduce as hermaphrodites.
The evolutionary context, which would explain, how this gigantism evolved, unfortunately is unknown to me. The snails live under tropical/subtropical conditions. It might be that a higher concentation of oxygen in the air in such areas in Africa could have influenced the spectacular growth in the Achatinidae.

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