Giant snail destroyed to protect Australian crops

An unusual visitor was found slinking across a Brisbane shipping container yard earlier today, prompting a call to the local authorities. This wasn't a normal case of trespassing, though, as workers found what they called a 'cricket ball-sized snail', undulating its way across the concrete.

This huge gastropod was identified as a giant African land snail, which can grow to 20 centimetres long, or more, and have a mass of up to one kilogram. For those unfamiliar with cricket, a cricket ball is roughly the size of a baseball, about 23 cm (9 inches) around.

[ Related: Two years on, Japan tsunami debris still washing ashore ]

These snails are native to east Africa, originating from Kenya and Tanzania, but are currently #2 on the list of the top 100 invasive species in the world. Their voracious appetite for crops, and their ability to lay up to 1,200 eggs in a single year, makes them a serious threat to agriculture.

"Giant African snails are one of the world's largest and most damaging land snails," said Paul Nixon, the acting regional manager of Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, according to Reuters.

According to Reuters, the last major encounter with these snails in Australia was in Queensland, in 1977, when authorities destroyed 300 of them during an exhaustive eight-month campaign.

[ More Geekquinox: 'Not so fast' on claims of new life found in Antarctic lake ]

This snail was humanely destroyed by biosecurity officers, and the authorities reported that they found no evidence of any other snails or eggs.

"Australia's strict biosecurity requirements and responsive system has so far kept these pests out of Australia, and we want to keep it that way," said Nixon.

Geek out with the latest in science and weather.
Follow @ygeekquinox on Twitter!