These Ain't Escargots

IT BEGAN AS A SCAM. SEVERAL CRATES, ALL INNOcently marked "Reptiles," were flown from Lagos, Nigeria, to the U.S. Their secret cargo: 1,000 Giant African Snails, considered by experts to be the most dangerous land snail in the world. By the time authorities knew they were in the country, the gastropods had slipped out to animal dealers in 25 states from Florida to Montana.

The baseball-size pets sell for about $10. To the right owner they provide sensitive, undemanding companionship. But if any of the Giant Africans are the same species that terrorized Florida for several years during the 1970s, they can also cause disaster on a biblical scale. Sexually mature at the age of five months, a single pregnant, hermaphroditic snail can, if it escapes to the wild, give rise to as many as 16 quadrillion descendants in five years. Armed with 80,000 rasping teeth and weighing up to a pound, each of these offspring can wade through an entire head of lettuce at one sitting. "It eats anything," says University of Michigan zoologist J.B. Burch. House paint. Dead Rats. Beer. Describing an infestation in Ceylon early in this century, a British explorer wrote, "The huge snails were to be seen -- literally in millions -- crawling over the ground, climbing up walls, fences, and poles." The few Giants that have been captured by the feds thus far appear to be a less prolific variety, but the Department of Agriculture is still trying frantically to round up the animals. "Anyone with Giant African Snails in their possession should not turn them loose," pleads an alarmed official. "They should turn them in."