Snails are able to survive intact after being eaten by birds, according to scientists.
Japanese white-eyes on the island of Hahajima, Japan feast on tiny land snails.
Researchers found that 15% of the snails eaten survived digestion and were found alive in the birds’ droppings.
This evidence suggests that bird predation could be a key factor in how snail populations spread.
The Japanese white-eye or mejiro is widespread in Japan but considered an invasive species in Hawaii
It is well known that plant seeds are dispersed by birds that eat fruit.
But in findings published in the Journal of Biogeography, researchers from Tohoku University, Japan investigated whether invertebrates could also spread in this way.
Previous research has shown that ponds snails can survive being eaten by fishes but the same was not known for land snails.
Studies of the diets of birds on the island of Hahajima identified the Japanese white-eye’s preference for the tiny land snail Tornatellides boeningi.
In the lab scientists fed the birds with the snails to find out whether any survived the digestive process.
“We were surprised that a high rate, about 15 percent, of snails were still alive after passing through the gut of [the] birds,”
