Helix Aspersa

You might not recognise the name but i bet you're familiar with the crunching sound they make when you step on the dawdling little buggers.

I'm a massive fan of snails, highly under-rated beasts.

Some things about snails:

They can live for seven years - fact!

The biggest can grow to 30cm in length - fact!

caracóis" is Portuguese for snails - fact!

Anyhoo, look at them more closely - you can see their mouth move and hear them eating.

I just took this shot in my garden (Nikon D70s Sigma 70mm f2.8 macro for those of you who care).