[jamest (OP)]

Oscar with this question:

'My question today formed when I returned from a drive of up to motorway speeds and there was a snail in my wheel. This got me wondering: do snails get dizzy?'

[Halc]

do snails get dizzy?'

No. Getting dizzy is a byproduct of a vestibular system, a feature of vertebrates.  This system detects angular acceleration, and it is the detection of the angular acceleration of the cessation of spinning that makes one dizzy.

Snails instead have statocysts which detect linear acceleration, which gives them a sense of orientation, but not of spinning.  A snail in a car wheel would feel heavy linear acceleration, but essentially constant orientation (radially outward).

[paul cotter]

Roadwheel(I presume) or steering wheel?

[Billy Fisher]

I had a similar thought once when I found a snail on my bike tire after a long ride. I?m pretty sure they don?t get dizzy though?snails move so slowly that I don?t think they experience it the way we do. It's more like they just stick to their pace, no matter how fast we're going. Still, it's a funny thing to think about, especially when you spot one after a motorway drive!