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CBC
16-05-2025
- Science
- CBC
Researchers egg-static to capture 1st footage of this rare snail spawning from its neck
After a dozen years dedicated to studying a rare species of carnivorous snail, Lisa Flanagan was thrilled to finally film the moment that, until recently, had been shrouded in mystery. Flanagan, a ranger at the New Zealand Department of Conservation, was weighing a Powelliphanta augusta snail when she saw what looked like a tiny hen's egg emerging from a small opening beneath its head. "It was just one of those things that was just a fluke," Flanagan told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. "He happened to be laying the egg at that time." Powelliphanta augusta snails take eight years to reach sexual maturity, after which they lay about five eggs a year, through an opening in their neck. But, despite almost two decades of caring for the critters in chilled containers at a facility in Hokitika, N.Z., staff had never witnessed this unfold until that fateful moment on May 7. The whole thing took just under one minute, Flanagan says. N.Z. carnivorous snail filmed for 1st time laying an egg from its neck 4 hours ago Duration 1:03 The footage, she says, confirms certain details about these snails' reproductive cycle, while prompting new ones for those who work with the creatures. In the clip, as the egg emerges, a baffled Flanagan can be heard saying to her colleague: "I wonder if it hurts." Meet one of the world's largest carnivorous snails The dozens of species and subspecies of Powelliphanta snails are only found in New Zealand, mostly in rugged forest and grassland settings, where they are threatened by habitat loss. At roughly nine centimetres in length, the Powelliphanta augusta is one of the largest carnivorous snails in the world, known to slurp up earthworms like noodles. Even observing their eating habits has been a rarity for Flanagan. Although they are fed monthly, in the 12 years of looking after these snails, she and her colleagues had only seen them gulp a worm three or four times. The Powelliphanta augusta was the centre of public uproar and legal proceedings in the early 2000s, when coal mining company Solid Energy threatened to destroy the snails' only habitat on the Mount Augustus ridge line. Some 4,000 were removed from the site and relocated, while 2,000 more were housed in chilled storage in the West Coast town of Hokitika to ensure the preservation of the species, which is slow to breed and doesn't adapt well to new habitats. In 2011, some 800 of the snails accidentally died in a Department of Conservation refrigerator with faulty temperature control. But the species' slow survival continues: In March this year, there were nearly 1,900 snails and nearly 2,200 eggs in captivity, the conservation agency said. Why the neck? While reproducing from the side of the neck may seem odd, it is, in fact, par for the course for snails. That's because they are encased in protective shells that allow them to retreat from predators and poor weather conditions. This evolutionary trait, however, can also cause complications, like how to mate with other snails and successfully reproduce, says Kath Walker, the N.Z. Department of Conservation's senior science advisor,. "Powelliphanta have solved this by having an opening (a genital pore) on the right side of their body just below their head," Walker said in a press release. Like other snails, Powelliphanta augusta are hermaphrodites. So, in order to mate, the invertebrate uses the genital pore to simultaneously exchange sperm with another snail, which is stored until each creates an egg. "The snail only needs to peek out of its shell to do the business," Walker said. While most snails lay eggs, some reproduce through live birth — also via their neck. Last July, the Campbell keeled glass-snail was captured on video as birthing offspring at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. The video shows a mini snail — shell, tentacles, and all — slipping out of its parent's neck. Flanagan said that it is common for Powelliphanta augusta snail eggs to take, on average, 400 days to hatch. When the day finally arrives, she said it "just hatches out as a little tiny wee snail." She says she hopes her own video out of Hokitika shows others how amazing these snails are. "People sort of tend to think it's not like, you know, a fluffy little kiwi or a penguin or something like that. It's just a snail. But no, they're there for a reason," she said.
CBC
16-05-2025
- Science
- CBC
N.Z. carnivorous snail filmed for 1st time laying an egg from its neck
Lisa Flanagan, a ranger at New Zealand's Department of Conservation, filmed the moment the Powelliphanta augusta snail laid its egg from the genital pore in the side of its neck. (Credit: New Zealand Department of Conservation)
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Watch world-1st footage of a giant snail oozing a pearly white egg out of its slimy neck folds
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. In a world first, scientists have filmed a rare carnivorous snail laying an egg from a "genital pore" in its neck. The footage answers long-standing questions about how the mysterious mollusks — known as the Mount Augustus snail (Powelliphanta augusta) — reproduce. "It's remarkable that in all the time we've spent caring for the snails, this is the first time we've seen one lay an egg," Lisa Flanagan, a New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) ranger who captured the footage, said in a statement. "We caught the action when we were weighing the snail. We turned it over to be weighed and saw the egg just starting to emerge from the snail." In the video, a single pearly white egg oozes out of the snail's slimy neck folds, from an opening known as a genital pore. There are at least 20 species and 59 sub-species of Powelliphanta snails, and they are among the largest snails in the world, according to the DOC. Powelliphanta snails are nocturnal and rarely come out during the day, except when it is particularly rainy. Therefore, they are not often very rarely spotted by humans. They are also among New Zealand's most threatened invertebrate species due to predation and habitat loss. According to the DOC , P. augusta, only found on the Buller Plateau on New Zealand's West Coast, are threatened by extinction due to open-cast coal mining in their native range. Because of their shrinking population and nocturnal behavior, very little is known about these creatures' life cycle and behavior. Therefore, wildlife officials have been studying a population in captivity for nearly 20 years. "DOC has been managing this captive population in chilled containers in Hokitika since 2006, when work began to mine the majority of their habitat on the West Coast of the South Island," the DOC representatives said in a Facebook post. "Very little was known about the species before they were taken into captivity." Like many snails, Powelliphanta are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female reproductive organs. P. augusta are long-lived and slow to mature, only reaching sexual maturity at around 8 years old — which is very old for a snail. Mature snails usually lay around five eggs a year, which can take more than a year to hatch. "Some of our captive snails are between 25 and 30 years old — in this they're polar opposites to the pest garden snail we introduced to New Zealand which is like a weed, with thousands of offspring each year and a short life," Kath Walker, DOC senior science advisor, said in the statement. While the snails' hard shells help to protect them from predation and harsh conditions, they also make it difficult to get sperm from one snail into another. "Powelliphanta have solved this by having an opening (a genital pore) on the right side of their body just below their head so that the snail only needs to peek out of its shell to do the business," Walker said. "It extends its penis out of this pore and into its mate's pore, and its mate does the same, simultaneously exchanging sperm, which they can store until they each fertilise the sperm they've received to create eggs," Walker said. She added that, because they have both male and female reproductive organs, the snails can also self-fertilize. RELATED STORIES —The brain-hijacking parasite that creates disco zombie snails —9 surprising facts about David Attenborough on his 99th birthday —8 animals that have virgin births Laying eggs through a genital pore is common among snail species, although some species, such as Littorina saxatilis in the U.K., give birth to live young. But Powelliphanta species are unusual because they only lay one egg at a time, rather than the big eggy clusters produced by many other more common snail species, according to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. To save these exotic snails, the DOC has established new populations in the wild by introducing them into new and rehabilitated habitats. However, they will continue to manage populations in captivity too until they are confident that the species is surviving well in the wild. "The captive management of Powelliphanta augusta has not only saved the species from extinction, but it's allowed us to learn more about the lives of these incredible creatures found nowhere else in the world," according to the statement.
Gizmodo
08-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
Feels Like That Should Hurt: Scientists Capture Rare Snail Laying Egg Through Neck Hole
The miracle of life can be majestic at times. Other times, it's an incredibly rare snail in New Zealand having kids out of its neck hole. In a first, officials at New Zealand's Department of Conservation have documented a Powelliphanta augusta snail laying its eggs. The carnivorous land snails are known for their unique method of mating and reproduction, which involves a 'genital pore' just below their head. This latest egg-laying feat is all the more important given that the slimy animals were almost completely wiped out of existence. P. augusta is also called the Mount Augustus snail, named after the only known habitat on New Zealand's South Island where they were once natively found. About 20 years ago, a coal mining operation in the area began to decimate its environment, and conservationists scrambled to save as many snails as they could to be raised in captivity. DOC officials based in the nearby town of Hokitika have been raising their own captive population of Mount Augustus snails since 2006. But they've only now been able to see—and capture live—the snails' egg-laying up close and personal. DOC has posted a video of the snail's egg-laying on its YouTube account. 'It's remarkable that in all the time we've spent caring for the snails, this is the first time we've seen one lay an egg,' said ranger Lisa Flanagan in a statement released by the DOC on Wednesday. 'We caught the action when we were weighing the snail. We turned it over to be weighed and saw the egg just starting to emerge from the snail.' Most land snails are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female sexual organs. This allows them to reproduce with any other member of the species, or even to self-fertilize if needed, though the latter usually results in less viable offspring. Mount Augustus snails in particular carry out their mating with the help of a genital pore along their neck. This same opening is also where the snail's eggs will emerge from. 'It extends its penis out of this pore and into its mate's pore, and its mate does the same, simultaneously exchanging sperm, which they can store until they each fertilize the sperm they've received to create eggs,' Flanagan explained. P. augusta snails mature relatively slowly, taking about eight years before they can start laying eggs. And even then, they only lay about five eggs a year, which can take another year to hatch. So compared to other snails, including invasive species threatening New Zealand, it's been harder to ensure their continued survival. But the DOC has been able to breed them in captivity and they've started to reintroduce new populations to the wild with some success. Until these efforts are firmly self-sustaining, however, the DOC will hold onto its houseguests, which can live up to 30 years in captivity. And with any luck, they'll continue to learn more about these weird but plucky creatures. 'I just love watching their progress each month, weighing them, how their shells develop, and all the interesting things they do,' said Flanagan.
