Among these shelled creatures, the most common is undoubtedly the snail. Whenever it rains, we can easily find this kind of creature traveling with a thick shell on the side of the road or in the cracks of bricks and tiles.
However, for us humans, the “protective shell” that snails are proud of is still very fragile, and most of the time we can easily crush it with our hands.
But what many people don’t know is that there is such a snail in nature. It is said that its shell cannot even be easily penetrated by bullets. Where is this kind of snail sacred?
snail on the sea floor
The name of this kind of snail is called the scale-horned gastropod snail. Although the scale-horned gastropod snail is a kind of snail, it is very different from most snails in appearance. The shape of this creature looks very Under the ugly, gray-heavy shell, there are circles of dense foot structures, and it looks like it has a very strong Cthulhu style.
This kind of snail was first discovered at the beginning of this century, and the place where they live is even more jaw-dropping. According to experts, they found this magical creature more than 2,000 meters below the surface of the Indian Ocean.
This kind of creature is generally distributed in the hydrothermal vents in the ocean, and basically does not actively move. The researchers even thought that the scale-horned gastropod snail was just an ordinary stone at first.
The scaly-horned gastropod snail feeds on tiny microorganisms in the ocean. These microorganisms are invisible to our human eyes. Because of their extremely slow travel speed and basically no ability to exercise, this snail is also protecting itself. Evolution has formed an unusually hard shell.
The hard shell of the scaly gastropod snail
After the experts discovered this creature, they immediately carried out a series of studies and investigations on it. Finally, they unexpectedly discovered that the shell of this snail is unique in nature. They have three layers of iron containing a lot of iron. shell.
This phenomenon is basically impossible to occur in the biosphere, so the scaly gastropod snail has naturally become the only type of iron-clad creature found in the world.
Compared with the substances contained in other animals in nature, the hardness of metal is simply a dimensionality reduction blow. After being threatened, the scale-horned gastropod snail can basically escape from any predator by shrinking its entire body into the shell.
The three shells of the scale-horned gastropod snail have a large amount of iron, and there is a just right gap between the three shells, which can unload the force to the greatest extent.
Even more surprising is that the shell of this snail actually has a lot of magnetism. That is to say, if we are holding a magnet and dangling around it, it is very likely that his shell will be attracted to the magnet.
Such a peculiar body structure is unique in nature, and experts have also conducted detailed analysis and investigation on the reasons for its formation of an iron shell.
Where does the iron casing come from?
Experts believe that the shell of this creature comes from the seabed, because it is absolutely impossible for the creatures we know to be born with a large amount of iron on their bodies, so the formation of this snail’s heavy iron armor is related to the seabed environment in which they live. obvious relationship.
There is a large amount of iron material spewing out from the bottom of the Indian Ocean, and after these materials are attached to the surface of the organism in the form of tiny particles, a hard carapace is formed invisibly.
Scale-horned gastropod snails usually do not move, so iron can easily accumulate on them, and eventually form a hard shell that protects scale-horned gastropod snails.
Although these shells are not born, this iron armored creature is still a wonderful flower in nature. At present, the relevant countries led by the United States have carried out a series of studies on the price structure of this kind of creature. The shell of the scaly gastropod snail is used on military equipment such as armored vehicles or body armor.
bulletproof armor
In the current era, the technology of body armor is relatively mature, but body armor is generally targeted. Many small body armor have no way to kill large-caliber bullets.
The iron armor covered by the scaly gastropod snails is actually very thin, but it brings them a protective ability that does not match its thickness.
The reason behind this phenomenon is also one of the biggest problems that American military scientists want to overcome. If the research is successful, then our human society is likely to have a highly bulletproof and very thin iron armor body armor, which can undoubtedly be called a good thing.
In fact, this is not the first time we humans have learned tricks from creatures in nature.
Many substances in the current society have shadows of animals. The sonic communication between bats and dolphins prompted people to think of the idea of radar, and the human exoskeletons of many animals have also been put into production and use recently.
To some extent, biological evolution has also helped our human society to a more harmonious and developed level.
Epilogue
The scaly gastropod snail was discovered in 2001, but because its own population is too small, it has not received reasonable attention after its discovery. At present, this creature has been listed as red The endangered species on the list, the population of the entire population continues to decline at an almost irreversible rate, which has a significant relationship with our human energy production and deep sea mining.
It is because of our actions that the destruction of their habitat has put the entire species of scaly gastropod snails in crisis.
In order to protect this magical species, we should indeed pay attention to the protection of the environment in our daily life, so that biological resources can also continue with human civilization.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings