A rarely seen “almost” event recently occurred at Science North, a science center located in Sudbury, Ontario. I say “almost”, because the entire sequence of events was stopped dead in its tracks, probably due to prying eyes!

One of the giant African snails that live on the second level of the Science Center has begun to lay an egg.

“Believe it or not, this is a very rare event to witness,” said Jacqueline Bertrand, a staff horticulturist at Science North. “In eight years, I’ve never seen this. Snails usually lay their eggs at night and bury them in the top layer of moist soil.”

The Giant African Snail is the largest land snail in the world. All land snails are hermaphrodites and produce both sperm and eggs. The egg develops and is expelled through a reproductive opening just behind the right side of the snail’s head.

“We realized that the snail was laying an egg and we immediately grabbed the camera,” said Andrea Marois of Science North Bluecoat. “The egg, which is off-white in color, is about the size of a robin’s egg and also has a hard shell. Unfortunately, the snail appears to have sucked the egg out and will probably lay it later.”

The Giant African Snail can lay an egg up to 6 cm in diameter. The egg is then buried in the ground and will hatch after about two to four weeks. Snails can lay eggs once a month and can lay up to 200 eggs a year.

“Last year, about 40 baby snails hatched at Science North,” Marois said.

“It takes about three months for the baby snails to resemble miniature versions of their parents. They will continue to grow, usually for two to three years, until they reach adult size. It will take at least a year for them to reach sexual maturity. – At which point where the cycle will start again,” Timmermans said. “As a scientist, this was a very exciting thing to see… even if we only got to see a little bit of the whole process.”

To learn more about giant African snails, visit the Nature Exchange at Science North in Sudbury, Ontario.