Snails

have THOUSANDS of teeth! Learning that snails have so many teeth knocked us out of our shells. Garden snails can have upwards of 14,000 teeth, and aquatic snails can have over 20,000 teeth! Don’t worry, it’s not that you’ve missed out on seeing a snail smile — their teeth aren’t displayed like the teeth of other animals. Snail “teeth” are actually studded along the snail’s tongue, which is called a radula. Snails used their radula to scrape rocks for microalgae, plants or even other animals from which they take their food. So, they don’t use their teeth to chew like we do. Instead, they use their teeth to scrape up food. The actual teeth on the radula of sea snails, called “limpets” are made of one of the strongest known biological materials on Earth (even stronger than titanium)!