The Snail That Slept for Five Years and Woke Up in a Museum

Have you ever felt like sleeping for a long time and waking up in a different world? Well, that’s exactly what happened to a snail that was collected from the Egyptian desert in 1846 and sent to the British Museum. The museum staff thought the snail was dead and glued it to a cardboard for display. However, the snail was actually alive and had entered a state of deep sleep called aestivation, which is a survival strategy for some animals to cope with harsh environmental conditions.

Five years later, the snail moved from its glued position and left a trail of discoloration on the cardboard. The museum staff realized their mistake and gave the snail some water and cabbage. “The snail came out of its shell and looked around with its eye stalks. It was alive!” The snail was named Lazarus by the museum staff and became a celebrity. It lived for another two years in the museum before dying of natural causes.

Lazarus was not the only snail to have a remarkable resurrection story. In 2010, a snail named George was found alive in a sealed jar that had been stored…