Why is it unlikely that you would find garden slugs or land snails in a desert?
1 Answer
Because they are very vulenrable to desiccation.
Explanation:
Slugs and snails are primarily made of water just like humans and other animals. However, snails and slugs don't have a thick skin like we do and therefore lose water easily through their skin.
When you would put garden slugs and land snails in the desert, the water in their body would simply 'evaporate'. This is called desiccation which will eventually kill these animals.
Interestingly, there are snails that are adapted and able to survive in deserts. These snails hide in their shells, in dark and preverably damp spots (little air flow, e.g. under a rock) when it is hot and dry. They will come out and search for food when it rains. Since it doesn't rain often in the desert, they go into a sort of 'summer sleep' when waiting for it to rain. In this period they drop their metabolic rate to save energy.
