Why Snails Have Shells

Why Snails Have Shells PDF Author:
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824815059
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
Twenty traditional tales from such ethnic groups in China as Mongol, Tibetan, Yao, Han, and Miao.

Why Snails Have Shells

Why Snails Have Shells PDF Author:
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824815059
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
Twenty traditional tales from such ethnic groups in China as Mongol, Tibetan, Yao, Han, and Miao.

A World in a Shell

A World in a Shell PDF Author: Thom van Dooren
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262547341
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Following the trails of Hawai‘i’s snails to explore the simultaneously biological and cultural significance of extinction. In this time of extinctions, the humble snail rarely gets a mention. And yet snails are disappearing faster than any other species. In A World in a Shell, Thom van Dooren offers a collection of snail stories from Hawai‘i—once home to more than 750 species of land snails, almost two-thirds of which are now gone. Following snail trails through forests, laboratories, museums, and even a military training facility, and meeting with scientists and Native Hawaiians, van Dooren explores ongoing processes of ecological and cultural loss as they are woven through with possibilities for hope, care, mourning, and resilience. Van Dooren recounts the fascinating history of snail decline in the Hawaiian Islands: from deforestation for agriculture, timber, and more, through the nineteenth century shell collecting mania of missionary settlers, and on to the contemporary impacts of introduced predators. Along the way he asks how both snail loss and conservation efforts have been tangled up with larger processes of colonization, militarization, and globalization. These snail stories provide a potent window into ongoing global process of environmental and cultural change, including the largely unnoticed disappearance of countless snails, insects, and other less charismatic species. Ultimately, van Dooren seeks to cultivate a sense of wonder and appreciation for our damaged planet, revealing the world of possibilities and relationships that lies coiled within a snail’s shell.

Slugs and Snails (Collins New Naturalist Library, Book 133)

Slugs and Snails (Collins New Naturalist Library, Book 133) PDF Author: Robert Cameron
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0008203490
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 826

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Book Description
Slugs and snails are part of the great Phylum Mollusca, a group that contains creatures as varied as the fast-moving squid or the sedentary clams, cockles and mussels. The largest group, however, are the gastropods, animals originally with a single foot and a single coiled shell.

Sea Snails

Sea Snails PDF Author: Joseph Heller
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319154524
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
This richly illustrated book presents the diversity and natural history of sea snail groups. By integrating aspects of morphology, ecology, evolution and behaviour, it describes how each group copes with problems of defence, locomotion, nutrition, reproduction and embryonic development. First come general characteristics of the Mollusca, to which snails belong; and next, characteristics by which snails (Gastropoda) differ from other molluscs. Then a broad, panoramic view of all major sea snail groups, from the primitive to the more advanced, is presented, including both the more abundant and some remote ones of special interest. In detailing primitive sea snails, first limpets (Patellogastropoda) are described, followed by brush snails (Vetigastropoda: top-shells, turbans and allies) and nerites (Neritimorpha), a small group with remarkably high variation in shell colour and in habitats. In looking at advanced-snails (Caenogastropoda), it details the herbivorous grazers and filter-feeders and the many voracious predators, some which use venomous darts. The book also covers sea slugs (Opisthobranchia), which have shifted from mechanical to chemical defence; some are herbivores, some use their food to harness solar energy, others are predators that gain stinging cells and poisonous compounds from their food. In addition, readers will learn about aspects of sea snails in human culture, including use as sacred artefacts and objects of magic and money, as a source of the royal and sacred dyes of purple and blue and as holy ceremonial trumpets. The text, in which scientific terms are accompanied by parallel common ones, is accompanied by over 200 illustrations (mostly in colour). This comprehensive, insightful portrait of sea snails will appeal to marine biologists, zoology lecturers and students, biology teachers, field-school instructors, nature reserve wardens, amateur naturalists, as well as to lecturers and learners of human culture.

What Lives in a Shell?

What Lives in a Shell? PDF Author: Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0064451240
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 37

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Book Description
What makes a shell like a house? A house is a home for you, a nest is a home for a bird, and a cave is a home for a bear. But for some animals a shell is a home. Snails and turtles and crabs and clams all have shells that act as their homes and protect them from harm. In this book you'll learn all about these and other crustaceous creatures, for whom a shell is just the right sort of home.

Spirals in Time

Spirals in Time PDF Author: Helen Scales
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472911377
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
The beautifully written story of shells and their makers, and our relationships with them. Seashells are the sculpted homes of a remarkable group of animals: the molluscs. These are some of the most ancient and successful animals on the planet. But watch out. Some molluscs can kill you if you eat them. Some will kill you if you stand too close. That hasn't stopped people using shells in many ways over thousands of years. They became the first jewelry and oldest currencies; they've been used as potent symbols of sex and death, prestige and war, not to mention a nutritious (and tasty) source of food. Spirals in Time is an exuberant aquatic romp, revealing amazing tales of these undersea marvels. Helen Scales leads us on a journey into their realm, as she goes in search of everything from snails that 'fly' underwater on tiny wings to octopuses accused of stealing shells and giant mussels with golden beards that were supposedly the source of Jason's golden fleece, and learns how shells have been exchanged for human lives, tapped for mind-bending drugs and inspired advances in medical technology. Weaving through these stories are the remarkable animals that build them, creatures with fascinating tales to tell, a myriad of spiralling shells following just a few simple rules of mathematics and evolution. Shells are also bellwethers of our impact on the natural world. Some species have been overfished, others poisoned by polluted seas; perhaps most worryingly of all, molluscs are expected to fall victim to ocean acidification, a side-effect of climate change that may soon cause shells to simply melt away. But rather than dwelling on what we risk losing, Spirals in Time urges you to ponder how seashells can reconnect us with nature, and heal the rift between ourselves and the living world.

The Shell Collector

The Shell Collector PDF Author: Anthony Doerr
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439190054
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
In this astonishingly assured, exquisitely crafted debut collection, Anthony Doerr takes readers from the African coast to the suburbs of Ohio, from sideshow pageantry to harsh wilderness survival, charting a vast and varied emotional landscape. Like the best storytellers, Doerr explores the human condition in all its manifestations: metamorphosis, grief, fractured relationships, and slowly mending hearts. Most dazzling is Doerr's gift for conjuring nature in both its beautiful abundance and crushing power. Some of his characters contend with tremendous hardship; some discover unique gifts; all are united by their ultimate deference to the mysteries of their respective landscapes.

Are You a Snail?

Are You a Snail? PDF Author: Judy Allen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780753406687
Category : Snails
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
This introduction to the world of the snail aims to bring this familiar, small creature sympathetically to life. Young children should be fascinated by this tiny life found just outside their back door.

Norman the Slug with the Silly Shell

Norman the Slug with the Silly Shell PDF Author: Sue Hendra
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 148149032X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
Norman, a slug who wants to be a snail, is determined to find something that will work as a shell.

Snailology

Snailology PDF Author: Michael Elsohn Ross
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books
ISBN: 9781575054377
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Provides instructions for finding, collecting, and keeping snails and suggests how to delve into the secret lives of these shell dwellers.