Giant African land snail grows to a foot long and a full pound

In the 1960s, when a boy vacationing with his family in Hawaii had pocketed a few giant African land snails(Lissachatina fulica), a mollusk that grows to a foot long and a full pound.

Hawaii had been battling the pest, and so too would Florida, where the boy returned with his new friends. Once home, he quickly grew bored of the snails and handed them over to his grandmother, who set them free in her backyard.

What ensued was an invasion by rapidly reproducing critters that have over the last century spread out of their native East Africa into tropical climes all over the world, from Asia to South America, as stowaways on ships or as pets brought home by people with a thing for snails.

In Florida, eradication took seven years. More