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Comment by lynguist | Hacker News Reader

I’ve noticed the same with snails. When I was a child in the 90s, the sidewalks were full of snails, and during a 10 minute stroll, I’d often find tens of small snails.

Today I find 1 or 2 snails after rainfall, if at all.

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Fireflies for me. I live in Italy and between the vineyards it was full of them. Now I occasionally see one or two. It's a pity not only because it is a concrete sign of habitat degradation, but it was also mesmerizing to walk and have them filing around you. Something my kids won't experience.

Between two long trips to Italy in my childhood, the fireflies we could see from the terrace of a small B&B we stayed at in a small village not far from Genoa is one of my most enduring memories.

Yeah, they are amazing. I'm not sure about Liguria, but where I am from (Garda Lake on the Veneto side) they basically disappeared.

As a child in the 80s I was living in a house with a large garden area (fasce) in Genova, just a bit removed from the bulk of the city.

Every summer evening the house and surrounding garden were filled with fireflies, it was mesmerizing.

Thanks for making me remember this :)

For quite some time I thought fireflies were made up, as I have never in my life (and I do live in a rural region) seen one.

With snails I suspect its more to do with how a child behaves and an adult.

I collect snails from my garden to eat and numbers are fairly similar despite my occasionally trying to control them with pellets some years.

Similarly with the original article I only got half way down but clearly it's more to do with cars than insect numbers.

You can come here and take away all the snails you want. It's impossible to walk around at night without stepping on them, and they have utterly destroyed my garden. I've never seen a crop of kale or broccoli fail in 30 years until this year.

I'm sure it's a regional impact on different types of creatures. I don't notice windshield bugs but my back patio in the city gets dozens of snails after every rainfall to this day.

Do you still live in the same place you grew up?

Yes.

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