If these three animals bet a race, the slug would certainly come in last place. According to the American biologist Branley Allan Branson, from the Kentucky Academy of Sciences, the “record” speed ever recorded in research for a slug is 16.5 centimeters per minute. In this dispute suggested by the reader, the penultimate placed would be the snail. The fastest, of course, would be the turtle – or rather the tortoise, since turtles live longer in the water.
But putting the tortoise in a race against a slug and a snail is very unfair, as the speed of an animal is also somewhat proportional to its size – and a tortoise is much larger than a slug and a snail. A more suitable rival to face the shell reptile would be a sloth, which is the slowest mammal in the world. The result of this tough match (to watch…) you can see below. It is also worth remembering that the four animals mentioned above are not the slowest in the world. Some animals, like corals and sea sponges, never move and technically have zero velocity. Thus, they would easily win the title of the most lazy people on the planet.
One hundred meters of great patience
Slug would take ten hours to complete the classic athletics test
RACE OF THE INVERTEBRATES – Snail x Slug
SLUG
A kind of snail without a shell, the slug contracts its muscles in full and makes a undulating movement to move around. But this tactic doesn’t work so well: in a 100-meter dash, the slug would cross the finish line almost eight hours after the snail!
Speed – 9.9 meters/hour (0.0099 km/h)
Time in the 100 meter dash – About 10 hours
SNAIL
With a speed more than four times greater than that of the slug, the snail would easily win this test. To facilitate its displacement, it has glands in the lower part of the body that secrete a kind of mucus that lubricates the path. That’s why he leaves a slimy trail
Speed – 45 meters/hour (0.045 km/h)
Time in the 100 meter dash – 2 hours and 13 minutes
RACE OF THE VERTEBRATES – Preguiça x Tortoise
LAZINESS
Even with no hulls to carry, it would take the sloth more than twice as long to cross the 100-meter finish line. But such slowness is justified: as it moves slowly, birds of prey have more difficulty spotting it in the middle of the trees
Speed – 120 meters/hour (0.12 km/h)
Time in the 100 meter dash – 50 minutes
TORTOISE
The tough carapace of this animal is an unnecessary extra weight for a sprint race. But, in real life, it is very important for the tortoise, as it works as a super shelter to escape predators, such as coyotes, felines, birds of prey and foxes.
Speed – 270 meters/hour (0.27 km/h)
Time in the 100 meter dash – 22 minutes