Young climbers successfully avoid predators: survival behavioural strategy of juveniles of the land snail Ezohelix gainesi.

This article investigates the ontogenetic shift in antipredator behavior of the land snail *Ezohelix gainesi* (family Camaenidae) in northern Japan, focusing on how juveniles and adults employ different strategies to avoid predation by ground-dwelling beetles. Laboratory predation experiments demonstrated that smaller snails (shell diameter under ~9 mm) are more vulnerable to beetle predation than larger individuals, which can defend themselves by swinging their shells. Field and laboratory observations showed that juveniles preferentially climb plants, likely as an adaptive behavior to reduce encounters with beetle predators, while adults remain on the forest floor where they feed and reproduce. The study concludes that climbing behavior in juveniles is an intrinsic antipredator strategy linked to their vulnerability and limited locomotive ability, representing an ontogenetic shift that may contribute to the evolutionary pathway toward arboreality in land snails.