DHRAMSALA (India), May 11, Olga Lipich.A simple grape snail has the rudiments of emotions and memory, the mechanisms of which are yet to be explored, as well as the ability to change sex and the unique «Arrows of Cupid», Academician Pavel Balaban, head of the Laboratory of Cellular Neurobiology of Education at the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in an interview.
Academician Balaban made a report on the results of many years of studying snails at the first International Conference «Animal Consciousness» in Dharamsala (India). The multi-day forum is held in May by a group of leading Russian and foreign researchers from various scientific fields as part of a dialogue with Buddhist scholars, at the initiative of the Dalai Lama and with his participation. 
«Emotional» experiment
«The snail has the rudiments of emotions. It has all the hormones that are associated with emotions, and they are actively working. Behaviorally, it can be shown that when certain areas of the brain are stimulated — specific nerve networks — snails experience something that makes them again and again repeat the situation. In human terms, this is a positive emotion,» Academician Balaban said.
Emotional attitude, he added, means «positive or negative.» «That is, an assessment is underway,» the agency's interlocutor explained.
The most interesting thing, according to him, is that if you electrically stimulate the network (neurons) that is associated with the sexual behavior of the snail, then it «activates behavior that is positive, that is, it likes this situation — and in behavior it tries to repeat it.» And if you stimulate areas of the brain that are associated with defensive behavior, then she does not want to reproduce this stimulation.
This is clearly manifested in a successful experiment, which actually repeats the well-known experience of «self-stimulation of rats», pressing their paw on the «pleasure button».
“If there is a needle near the snail’s head, from which stimulation that the snail does not like comes from, and she simply avoids it. After one or two touches and receiving, apparently, unpleasant sensations, she never touches her again. pleasant, then she raises her head and closes this contact,» the researcher said. 
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«There is something reasonable about her»
In addition to emotions, the snail has a memory. «What a thing! She has all kinds of memory,» Academician Balaban emphasized.
To the question whether the data of his research bring the scientific world closer to clarifying the question of the presence of consciousness or intelligence in animals, in particular, in a snail, Academician Balan answered in the affirmative. “We can say that there is something reasonable, conscious in it (the snail). Since the concept of “consciousness” necessarily includes memory and emotions,” he said.
At the same time, the academician recalled the lack of a single definition of the term «consciousness» among scientists from different fields today.
Learning and Memory Genes
Further Academician Balaban considers it important to study, first of all, the «molecular mechanisms of emotions» of snails and the «molecular mechanisms of memory», which they have not yet been disclosed.
«Today, we can say that we are looking for genes that are specifically associated with learning and memory. They are different from other genes that are almost all involved in learning and memory. The differences are in regulation: the regulation of these genes specifically associated with learning and memory goes differently,» the source said.
Studies of molecular mechanisms, hormones, are the most promising in relation to humans. Despite the fact that «hormones are all quite different even in mice and rats,» different animals still «have some substances that are conservative.» «There are the same mediators, and the receptors for them are very similar — in us and in snails. This is surprising. Therefore, some molecular mechanisms can be studied in such simple animals,» Academician Balaban believes. 
The owner of the «arrows of love»
«The snail is the only animal known to us that owns the so-called» arrows of love, Cupid or Cupid «. This was described back in the 19th century,» Academician Balaban noted.
According to him, the «arrow of love» for snails is «an element of social interaction.» They use it for reproduction, about half the time. “If one of the partners is dissatisfied with something and leaves, then the second one shoots Cupid’s arrow into him — a calcium needle containing a special substance, and after 15 minutes the partner is ready for fertilization,” the scientist shared.
Snails are hermaphrodites, but their fertilization is only cross, so part of the population performs «male» functions, and some «female». Each snail can «change sex» about once a year — several times in a lifetime. Hormones are necessary to facilitate the search for a partner of the opposite sex in a given period and successful fertilization. In connection with a partner, as a result of which offspring appears, the snail enters only once a year, but the process lasts about six hours. 
«Fearless» childhood
Another interesting feature is that newborn snails are completely fearless. «And, apparently, for the first month they have no feeling of pain,» Academician Balaban added.
According to him, the mediator system of newborn snails develops sequentially. “For the first three to four weeks, mediators associated with fear are not thrown out, and only about a month after birth does the behavior of the snail approach that of an adult (when it already reacts sharply, for example, to a needle that has fallen into it). This is probably due to the fact that at first, the babies sit in one nest, and then they should not be afraid to leave from there, despite the fact that they are the favorite food of all animals,» the scientist explained. 
Snail and man
Science today knows that land grape snails live a lot — 8-10 years. As for the number of neurons, snails have under a hundred thousand of them — this is quite a lot: more than most marine animals and worms. But mice and rats have billions of neurons, the difference is orders of magnitude.
The first book devoted to the snail as an object of research was published in the 17th century in Europe. «This is a favorite object of research, it is also edible: the Italians, the French often eat snails,» Balaban added. In addition to being eaten, snails are also destroyed in «barbaric ways», because they are «pests of agriculture».
However, studies show that snails with the rudiments of emotion and memory are «teachable». Both Russian and foreign participants of the conference «Animal Consciousness» came to the conclusion that the more a person learns about other living beings, the more thoughtfully and carefully he can stand coexistence with them, trying to minimize their suffering.
More than 70 scientists from Russia, India, Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, Israel, USA, Canada, Japan, Australia came to the first forum on animal consciousness in Dharamsala, where the residence of the Dalai Lama is located. The conference was organized by the Institute for Advanced Brain Research of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Moscow Save Tibet Foundation in cooperation with the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (Dharamsala) and the Wind Cat Foundation for the Promotion of Humane and Responsible Treatment of Animals (Moscow).