Interesting Facts about slugs - Proposal Research

Since I wanted to base my horror around slugs I thought I'd do a bit of research into them and I found this interesting fact sheet  I chose slugs because I think they're one of the most disgusting and freaky creatures and the thought of touching one makes me go cold never mind the thought of loads of them nesting inside me.
What I also found interesting is that I wanted my slugs to have 2 vicious protruding teeth and discovered slugs actually do have thousands of teeth which I didnt realise, I knew they ate plants and leave marks where they've been munching but never really pictured them having teeth. I thought it would be could to change it from having teeth used for eating plants and to give them teeth which are capable of eating into human flesh.
They also have green blood which gave me the idea for them to emerge from a sickly-green pus as yellow-green makes people think of things that are not very pleasant like sometimes sick, snot and slime in films is nearly always shown as being green. Green or an off yellowy-green is a colour that people associate with something not being quite right or not functioning properly which again links to the uncanny because people are repulsed and scared of things that aren't quite right or aren't behaving/functioning in the usual manner.


This is an extract taken from an article I read a while ago it's about a white slug that's been discovered in Wales and is carnivorous which is actually unusual for slugs, I like the description they use for its teeth about being blade-like and sucking in like spaghetti. I think it sounds like something from a horror film yet they actually exist and are living in Wales and probably many other places.

'Carnivorous slugsUnlike most slugs, the Ghost Slug is carnivorous and kills earthworms at night with powerful, blade-like teeth, sucking them in like spaghetti. It has no eyes, is completely white, and lives underground, squeezing its flexible body into cracks to get at the worms.' 

The slug’s blade-like teeth (total width 5mm) copyright National Museum Wales

Did you know...

• Only 5% of the slug pop­u­la­tion is above ground at any one time. The oth­er 95% is un­der­ground di­gest­ing your seed­lings, lay­ing eggs, and feed­ing on roots and seed sprouts.
• A slug’s blood is green.
• Most Brit­ish slugs eat rot­ting ve­get­a­tion, but a few are car­ni­vor­ous.
• Slugs do play an im­port­ant role in eco­logy by eat­ing de­com­pos­ing ve­get­a­tion.
• A slug lays 20-100 eggs sev­er­al times a year.
• Slug eggs can lay dormant in the soil for years and then hatch when con­di­tions are right.
• Gast­ro­pods form the second largest class in the an­im­al king­dom, the largest be­ing the in­sects.
• Slugs are herm­aph­rod­ite, hav­ing both male and fe­male re­pro­duct­ive or­gans.
• Slugs have been present in the Brit­ish Isles since the end of the last ice age.
• In fa­vour­able con­di­tions a slug can live for up to 6 years.
• A slug is ba­sic­ally a mus­cu­lar foot, and the name ‘gast­ro­pod’ lit­er­ally means stom­ach foot.
• Un­like snails that hi­bern­ate dur­ing winter, slugs are act­ive whenev­er the tem­per­at­ure is above 5°C.
• A slug is es­sen­tially a snail without a shell.
• Slugs used to live in the ocean, which is why they still need to keep moist.
• One in­di­vidu­al field slug has the po­ten­tial to pro­duce about 90,000 grand­chil­dren.
• Brit­ish garden­ers use over 400 bil­lion slug pel­lets every year.
• It’s been es­tim­ated that an acre of farm­land may sup­port over 250,000 slugs.
• Re­search has shown that the av­er­age UK garden has a pop­u­la­tion of over 20,000 slugs and snails.
• A cu­bic metre of garden will on av­er­age con­tain up to 200 slugs.
• A slug’s slime en­ables it to glide without dif­fi­culty over glass shards, or even the edge of a razor blade.
• Slugs have the cap­ab­il­ity to re­pro­duce by them­selves, al­though a mate is pre­ferred.
• When picked up or touched, the Black Slug will con­tract into a hemi­spher­ic­al shape and be­gin to rock from side to side. This be­ha­viour con­fuses pred­at­ors.
• Slugs leave their own in­di­vidu­al scent trail so they can find their way home.
• A slug’s slime ab­sorbs wa­ter, which is why it’s nearly im­possible to wash it off your hands.
• A slug’s slime con­tains fibres which pre­vents it from slid­ing down ver­tic­al sur­faces.
• A slug smells with its body.
• Bri­tain is home to around 30 spe­cies of slug.
• A slug can stretch out to 20 times its nor­mal length, en­abling it to squeeze through the smal­lest of open­ings.
• A slug has ap­prox­im­ately 27,000 teeth – that’s more teeth than a shark.
• Like sharks, slugs routinely lose and re­place their teeth.
• When a slug loses one of its sens­ory tentacles it grows an­oth­er, usu­ally with­in a few months.
• Vin­eg­ar is a good in­gredi­ent for slug sprays, and for re­mov­ing slug slime.

Source:

 Slug-Facts [Internet] http://www.slugoff.co.uk/slug-facts/facts - Accessed 31/3/2013

Wildlife Extra [Internet] http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/ghost-slug728.html#cr - Accessed 31/3/2013