These Snails Are Metal As Hell

The scaly-foot snail or sea pangolin developed overlapping scales of iron on its foot to survive the high temperatures blasted out by the hydrothermal vents in the Indian Ocean it lives near. It also has a huge snail heart because “to accommodate the oxygen needs of symbiotic bacteria that live in their bodies and provide most of their nutrition.”

Longtime Kottke readers will remember my friend Chris Piascik who drew this metal snail after I told him about the other metal snail. Chris has an excellent YouTube channel where he talks about stuff I can’t really understand in an engaging and delightful way. In 2018, Chris and I spent about 6 months working together and putting out a kids’ book and he was mad at me every single day.

• animals
• Chris Piascik
• snails