One snail, five slimes: Collagen and calcium reshape mucus for different jobs

Snails are particularly active after a rain shower. Even on the Max Planck Campus in Potsdam-Golm, common brown-lipped snails (Cepaea nemoralis) leave behind shiny trails of mucus. Researchers from the “Biomaterials” department saw the slime as a promising natural material. The snail does not produce just one type of slime but can vary it as needed, making it liquid, solid, sticky or slippery.