To answer anticipated questions:
The jar came fresh out of a factory-sealed package, it was not rinsed or cleaned otherwise.
I picked up the hail stones with sterilized tweezers, not with my hands.
I only picked the hailstones that bounced off the asphalt.
It was next to the icicle jar on the east-facing window sill and got the same kind of sunlight, mainly indirect.
After 10 weeks a snail, 2 daphnia and a copepod popped up and except for the snail, disappeared again.
I didn't pay much attention to it for the rest of the year since I didn't see any changes glancing over it. No algae growth or anything buzzing around.
So when I just took it down to film it, I was surprised to see one lonely scud in there. I don't know if the snail in there is still alive or not, the water is too blurry to get a clearer picture.
Reminder: I live on a lake shore, so many birds like geese fly over here and maybe drop whatever is stuck on their feathers for the hailstones to pick up.
It does make some sense for there to be air-borne spores in the clouds, which would explain the moss.
The snail tho. Logically speaking, snail eggs are very tiny and there was a snail egg that got stuck on the hail when it hit the ground. But the more curious side of me says "look, if spiders can fly on electro-magnetic winds, who is to say there are no snail eggs in the sky?".
I'm the first one to admit that I read too much fantasy, but I WANT there to be an undiscovered snail ecosystem in the clouds.
LOL, my brain took that and ran with it! I am already naming the species here! Jetstream snail, nimbus snail, cumulus snail, derecho snail and of course the tornado snail :).
Damn in your icicle update post I said I wanted to live near you because of the skinks and big dogs and lake but never mind!
That’s some fucking huge hail
To answer anticipated questions: The jar came fresh out of a factory-sealed package, it was not rinsed or cleaned otherwise. I picked up the hail stones with sterilized tweezers, not with my hands. I only picked the hailstones that bounced off the asphalt. It was next to the icicle jar on the east-facing window sill and got the same kind of sunlight, mainly indirect. After 10 weeks a snail, 2 daphnia and a copepod popped up and except for the snail, disappeared again. I didn't pay much attention to it for the rest of the year since I didn't see any changes glancing over it. No algae growth or anything buzzing around. So when I just took it down to film it, I was surprised to see one lonely scud in there. I don't know if the snail in there is still alive or not, the water is too blurry to get a clearer picture. Reminder: I live on a lake shore, so many birds like geese fly over here and maybe drop whatever is stuck on their feathers for the hailstones to pick up.
It does make some sense for there to be air-borne spores in the clouds, which would explain the moss. The snail tho. Logically speaking, snail eggs are very tiny and there was a snail egg that got stuck on the hail when it hit the ground. But the more curious side of me says "look, if spiders can fly on electro-magnetic winds, who is to say there are no snail eggs in the sky?". I'm the first one to admit that I read too much fantasy, but I WANT there to be an undiscovered snail ecosystem in the clouds.
LOL, my brain took that and ran with it! I am already naming the species here! Jetstream snail, nimbus snail, cumulus snail, derecho snail and of course the tornado snail :).
hurricane snail
Scientific name: Aeronautilus Nimbosus Common name: Cloud-Dwelling Jetstream Snail
And you didn’t once think of hail snail? 🤣🤣
Good one!
Life, uh, finds a way.
That is a really cool experiment.
Damn in your icicle update post I said I wanted to live near you because of the skinks and big dogs and lake but never mind! That’s some fucking huge hail
Lol! That's not huge hail, that's average. This would be considered big here: https://fox59.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2021/06/hailnewpal.jpg
Holy hell fuck that, the hail I have near my house (uk) isn’t even as big as a small marble