this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2025
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[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 66 points 1 week ago (6 children)

So, a typical snail moves at around 0.0048 km/h, and are around 1 cm tall. The snail in the image appears to be more than 3-4 stories tall, let's say 15 m. If the speed scales linearly with size, this snail could move at around 7.2 km/h.

So yeah, a very brisk walk for your life should just about keep you out of reach if you're in decent shape.

[–] kemsat@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I was hoping someone had calculated how quickly a snail that size would move, and you did not disappoint!

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

the problem is snails harbor tons of parasites, the slime it leaves will just infect everyone in its wake.

[–] beastlykings@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 days ago

I was thinking this might be the case, but didn't want to do the math. Thank you.

[–] LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone 25 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It was an asymptomatic smash!

[–] kryptonite@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

Or even asymptotic.

[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

Saunter at your own peril.

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Your linked source doesn't appear to list that number (It lists 8 cm a minute).

Perhaps you (or a large language model, if you're using one) has it mixed up with this:

"Snails have been measured at speeds of 0.048 kilometres per hour."

From this source.

Also, 1 cm tall would be a very small snail... Approximately the size of your smallest fingernail.

[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

8 cm/min * 60 min/h * 1e-5 km/cm = 0.0048 km/h

If I'm not completely mistaken.

I'll admit that the "1 cm tall" is guesstimated based on my memory of the snails in my garden.

The linked source also mentions that some snails can be up to ten times as fast as the typical 8 cm/min (0.0048 km/h), but those appear to be maritime snails, while the snail in the image seems to be terrestrial.

[–] Wilco@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 days ago

Yea, yea ... you have the math for a snail. Impressive. Could a bird carry it and drop it on people? How big would it have to be? Could you outrun it? What is the airspeed of an unladen swallow?

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Oh yeah you're right 👍

The source I found appears to list the wrong figure.

[–] deadcream@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago

Unless it's a carnivorous snail