"It will be a surprise to many biologists that snails are found in large numbers on the dry, barren surfaces of certain hot deserts. The present study is concerned with one such snail, Sphincterochila boissieri, which occurs in the deserts of the Near East. Live specimens of this snail, withdrawn in the shell and dormant, can be found on the desert surface in mid-summer, fully exposed to sun and heat. The surface temperature of these deserts may reach 70 °C and more than a year may pass between rains…
"The maximum air temperature, reached at noon, was 42.6 °C, and the maximum soil surface temperature in the sun, reached at 13.00, was 65.3 °C. Under the snail, in the space between the soil surface and the smooth shell, the maximum temperature was 60.1 °C, or 5.2 °C below the adjacent soil surface in the open sun. The lower temperature under the shell is expected, for the shell provides shade for that particular spot of the soil surface on which it sits. Inside the shell in the largest whorl, located in contact with the ground, the maximum temperature was 56.2 °C. In the second and third whorls the temperature was lower, reaching a maximum of 50.3 °C.
"It is important that the animal, when withdrawn, does not fill the shell and leaves most of the largest whorl filled with air…The snail, withdrawn to the upper parts of the shell, is significantly cooler…
"Why does the snail not heat up to the same temperature as the soil surface? The answer lies in its high reflectivity in combination with the slow conduction of heat from the substrate. Within the visible part of the solar spectrum (which contains about one-half of the total incident solar radiant energy) the reflectance of these snails is about 90%. In the near infrared, up to 1350 nm, the reflectance is similar to that of magnesium oxide and is estimated to be 95%. In the total range of the solar spectrum, therefore, we can say that the snails reflect well over 90% of the incident radiant energy.
"…heat flow, however, is impeded by two important circumstances. Firstly, the snail shell is in direct contact with the rough soil surface only in a few spots, and a layer of still air separates much of its bottom surface from the ground, forming an insulatng [sic] air cushion. Next, and perhaps more important, the snail is withdrawn into the upper parts of the shell and the largest whorl is filled with air; this constitutes a further impediment to heat flow into the snail."
No. Nothing can live in the sun. It's extremely hot. lol
every animal in the earth.
Actually snails avoid the sun. They prefer shade and cool environments.
it dries out and dies.
they love it
yhey hate it
By going in the sunlight
One Light Year at Snail Speed was created in 2003.
Yo mamas babys
it moves towards the light
They react fast to any physical stimuli. That's the extent of their agility, Other than falling of the glass after being bumped, or scared. Also their eyes are simple and are only able to tell light from dark, and when you turn the light on or off they will sometimes close up due to natural instinct (they think that a possible predator is above them blocking out the light.)
yellow if it is not wet and light brown if it is wet
They're light (bent but real light), and your eyes react to light.
Light travels 31,536,000 seconds in a year, just like, let's say, a snail that never stops creeping. But light travels farther than a snail does in the same time. For example, in a year, light travels 9,454,254,955,000 kilometers (5,874,601,673,000 miles).
A color such as "light blue" tells us how the object will react to visible light. Basically, it doesn't say anything about how it will react to infrared radiation.
e3
YEAH!!
it reflects
Time