In 1846, authorities at the British Museum glued what they thought was a deceased snail onto a piece of cardboard for display. After it seemingly became unglued 5 years later, they discovered it had been alive the whole time. Little did they know that the snail had retreated deep into the spiral of its shell in a deep sleep. One day, curators noticed something strange about their catatonic mollusk: the shell seemed to have moved from its glued position and a trail of discoloration followed it. Archivists removed it from the card to give it a bath, with a suspicion that the snail might have, in fact, been sleeping. After just a few minutes of exposure to moisture, the snail’s head poked from its shell and surveyed its new home with its eye stalks. Scientists figured the last time the snail had been awake was in the Egyptian desert when it was collected by explorer Charles Lamb in March 1846. The snail was fed some cabbage before falling back to sleep for another 2 years.
