Snails Or Slop Slime

You're probably all familiar with those pages on the big social media platforms that run as “entertainment” and steal content wherever they can. The main thing is to attract attention, get lots of clicks and even more followers. Thanks to AI, these pseudo-influencers are reaching even higher levels: most people are left open-mouthed in amazement, with countless comments expressing effusive thanks and even more exuberant hearts. The worst thing I saw today: so-called “nature” accounts. Unscrupulous individuals who exploit people's love of nature and the fact that more and more people are unfamiliar with it. And that makes me furious!

If I were a snail, my slime would be foaming with rage. But don't worry, I'll try to remain rather objective. It's not easy, because the websites and accounts that are cloned at breakneck speed not only render genuine human knowledge and human work invisible. The AI companies steal human work, human-made creative content. And worse: if people find more slop than facts, they won’t believe the facts anymore. Hard times for science!

So we get three dangerous baseline shifts: the one caused by human-made species extinction and destruction of natural habitats. And the new one caused by misinformation (at the best) and disinformation (mostly used on big platforms). Take a third danger: austerity measures for schools or even the disappearance of universally accessible education for all. Especially authoritarian states try to destroy education. How will younger generations get ecology knowledge important for conservation or climate action?

To explain you what fake horrors I found with only one search and four clicks, lets concentrate on a specific example. It’s easier to understand than theory. Let’s talk about snails!

It's really hard for me to ask for this publicly: my work is donation-based. And right now, I'm facing increased heating costs and a few repairs that can't be put off, with high bills. I'm grateful for any small amount of help! I have a Fund-me on Ko-Fi (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre). Or Ko-Fi just for a coffee (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) (I do love coffee). Warm thanks to all who appreciate my work in this practical way! And also thanks for all readers interested in my work without the means - you can share my links!

Fake Nature

I thought long about what to show you for giving no clicks for slop! So no real links but the picture. On Facebook (and probably Instagram), pseudo-sites with names like “Blabla Hacks” or “Loving Blablabla Animals/Plants/Fishes/Cats” posted a so-called “info-graphic” about how to save snails. I'm sure anyone who doesn't look too closely and isn't familiar with the subject will find it interesting. Even real nature sites share it because they don’t fact-check what they share. Just for the clicks? It went viral …

Suspicion only arises because all the graphics on this “Blabla Loving Nature” site - including the logo - have the same typical AI style, achieved through training with the work of real illustrators. There is no communication whatsoever. It's just being blown out:

Let’s have a fact check:

Misinformation:

The left side shows an red ouchie on the soft part (the fallopian tube, the mucous gland?) and cement-like cracks of the foot. The warning: if you grab snails by the shell, you won’t crack the shell but cause “internal collapse” or tear their mantle.

Facts:

• The mantle is more inside the shell, snails don’t walk on their mantle. And they don’t break their foot.

• Walking snails don’t produce a vacuum, they are no suction pads.

• If you take a snail quickly and with sensible fingers, it will automatically detach from the floor and move naturally. The bigger danger is that a human’s grip is too strong and breaks the shell. Touch the soft part out of the shell shortly and they will retract very quickly!

• The organs of a snail (Wikipedia illu (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre), mostly inside the shell) and their mantle are only hurt by raw violence destroying the shell, e.g., bird attacks or humans’ shoes.

Misinformation:

The right side claims: 1. Touching the shell gently will 2. cause the snail to retract very slowly. 3. Now you can take the shell. 4. You should not change the direction the snail had choosen.

Facts:

• Touch the shell gently and probably nothing will happen. Snails touch twigs or stones with their shells while walking, they take your fingers for silly wood. But their eyes can see sudden light-dark changes. Effect: they perhaps retract their eyes only. Yes, if you knock at their house, they would feel it and retract. Forget it all.

• Just take the snail quickly and gently by their shell. Or touch the foot before. Let the snail sail through the air between your fingers. Or let them walk on a leaf and take the leaf.

• If a snail retracts, they do it rather quickly. You won’t have the time for another coffee.

• Trust the snail: they will find their way and can orientate themselves. If you want to save them, moisture and green food are more important than a supposed plan that they wanted to cross your car park to the north only because snail Claude invited them to snail-cake. Whether you turn them in the right direction or not, they will first explore the area for shade and food. That's the most important thing, not some general direction!

Disclaimer, for nowadays, you always need a disclaimer: This is not written for “pet snails” but for most wild European garden snails. And yes, it’s also depending on the situation which can be different. Don’t trust me, I’m only a real human (irony alarm).

For more snail information I recommend Wikipedia (Gastropoda) (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre).

But My Garden!

You will see that there’s not only a big difference between snails (the ones with the shell) and slugs (the naked ones) but also between species. I just read that some people kill all of them in fear for their gardens. These people would kill even those good for their garden!

It’s mostly the slugs eating your legumes or fruits. But we also have purely fungivorous slugs and carnivorous ones (eating even other slugs)! Most snails are rather harmless. Some are feeding only on plant detritus, some only on microbes. Ecologically, snails are important for the soil food web. And as soil health is important for our food, they will help your plants!

Don’t kill them without knowledge. Look at the species and how they live! Cepaea (the ones with the beautiful coloured spirals) eat mostly dead plant material. Helix pomatia are even protected in different countries.

You will discover that sometimes, carnivorous ones can hunt the legume-munching slugs. The slug Limax maximus, e.g., goes not only for cat food left in your garden but also hunts smaller slugs during the night.

If you want to have less slugs in your garden, help their natural enemies: e.g. certain birds, hedgehogs, moles, toads, and slow worms eat them. If the ecological balance is good, the balance with these animals will be natural, too.

Ask genuine, experienced nature experts. Follow biologists and other scientists. Use content curated by real people. And above all, go out into nature and use all your senses, not the nearest LLM.

And My Rage Against The Machine?

You wanted to know why I’m so furious?

You see, how much time and energy I spent only to fact-check and tell the facts instead of just composing a fascinating article about snails. And even this article will be attacked by AI-training bots. It will become invisible in search-machines because of all that louder, more massive AI slop websites and their social media accounts with 250k followers and more. Not only my website gets massive AI bot attacks - it’s a problem of all creatives. My website was already down by these attacks and it costs money (because traffic costs money). I only wait for the day when they’ll scrape my voice for fake-podcasts.

You think this is a conspiracy idea? No, it's already happening to the first colleagues with famous voices. And it's the reason why real people are slowly becoming invisible on podcast platforms too, unless they're celebrities.

We can still reverse this trend. Hopefully. If only we wanted.