Foraging strategy switch in detour behavior of the land snail Anguispira alternata (Say)

Abstract

Abstract. The ability of an olfactory‐dominant organism, the land snail Anguispira alternata, to negotiate an odor‐permeable barrier to obtain food in still air was tested. Thirty‐nine snails were challenged with a “V”‐shaped wire mesh fence that allowed them to get within 1 cm of their food but required them to turn away from the food to move around the fence. Fifteen snails were tested under the same conditions but without a food odor source present. Of the 39 snails tested with food, 22 moved up the odor gradient directly toward the food. Twentyone of these snails altered their foraging behavior by moving away from the odor source after they encountered the barrier. Twelve of these 21 moved along the fence to the food. The other 9 snails moved away from the fence and wandered about within the arena. Of the 39 snails tested, 17 did not move toward the food but by‐passed the fence by either following the arena edge or moving toward the gap between the fence and the arena wall. Since some of these snails obtained the food without encountering the fence, a second experiment challenged 19 snails with a “J”‐shaped fence in which one of the possible detour paths was blocked. There was no difference in the number of snails taking the blocked path vs. snails taking the open path. Therefore it is unlikely that these snails were able to detect the fence and plot a path around it before actually moving. In the 2 experiments, 91% of the snails that followed the odor gradient directly toward the food subsequently switched their foraging behavior. The ability of these snails to switch their foraging behavior was unexpected in an olfactory‐dominant animal and suggests that their behavior is based on a significant amount of sensory processing.