von Sie haben sich im Jahr dutzende Meter weit bewegt, aber dennoch meist ihren Winterschlafplatz vom vorigen Jahr aufgesucht - und das oft bis auf wenige Zentimeter genau!
Er fasst seine Beobachtungen so zusammen:
The assumption [ ... ] that Helix (and possibly some other terrestrial invertebrates) navigates within its familiar area by means of a memorized, primarily olfactory "map" of the environment is probably right.
It appears from this study that the information stored in the map is very detailed and is accumulated over several years.
It has been shown that the terrestrial snail Achatina fulica remembers the odour of a particular food plant for up to four months, but the spatial memory of Helix goes far beyond this.
The present results indicate that there is no essential difference in memory duration and complexity between a long-living gastropod as Helix and various vertebrates.
Homing to Hibernating Sites in Helix pomatia Involving Detailed Long-term Memory (PDF, 750kB)
Strategies of Spatial Behaviour in Helix pomatia (PDF, 1050kB)
