(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-15 14:28

Yang Jinshen, a resident of Dongguan, Guangdong province, has been raising a snail as a pet for more than 11 years.

Yang picked up the snail in his hometown in Hubei province in 1997 when he was just 14 years old. The junior high school student then built a 1-sq-m home for his pet and played with it after school every day.

Yang then brought the snail to the city's Gaobu township when he and his wife moved to the Pearl River Delta city at the beginning of month.

His snail is now about the size of an adult's fist and usually extends its head from its shell at night.

Yang's snail has attracted the attention of local zoologists because of its old age. Most snails only live to be five or six.

(Southern Metropolis Daily)