It is doubtless true in preservation circles that things that are cute and fluffy get the most aid . After all , who can fend something as endearing asMadame Berthe ’s shiner lemur ? The slimier inhabitants of Earth typically have to do something a little more interesting than just looking cute to get newspaper headline . EnterPowelliphanta augusta , a snail mintage that lays eggs through its cervix .
Yes , you read that correctly . This threatened snail species has circumvented the problem of how to make more snails when your body is encased in a tough shell by having what ’s experience as a genital pore on its neck opening .
Like most snails , P. augustais ahermaphrodite , own both male and female genitals . However , these snails typically engender with each other to cross - fertilise their eggs . “ It extend its penis out of this stomate and into its checkmate ’s pore , and its mate does the same , simultaneously exchanging sperm , which they can stack away until they each fertilize the sperm cell they ’ve received to create eggs , ” explained DOC Senior Science Advisor Kath Walker in astatement .
The Department of Conservation in New Zealand has been looking after a captive population of these escargot since 2006 . The snails used to live along the Mount Augustus ridge on the West Coast , the only shoes they were found to course occur . However the troupe Solid Energy began to mine this area forcoal , demolish the escargot ' habitat .
“ It ’s noteworthy that in all the metre we ’ve spent caring for the escargot , this is the first time we ’ve seen one lie in an ball . We caught the action when we were weighing the escargot . We turned it over to be weighed and saw the egg just start to emerge from the snail , ” said DOC Ranger Lisa Flanagan , who has looked after the snails for over 12 years .
P. augustajust keeps getting uncanny . They are a species with a long lifespan , with some of the wrapped population thought to be between 25 and 30 years old . These snails only reach sexual matureness at 8 years old and are capable of lying just five eggs per year . The eggs themselves can take over 12 month to hatch .
“ I just love watching their progress each month , weighing them , how their carapace develop , and all the interesting things they do , " concluded Flanagan .
sour at the DOC is ongoing to both lay down young population of snail in the state of nature and to control a sustainable universe through the captive programme . " The captive management ofPowelliphanta augustahas not only saved the metal money from extinction , but it ’s set aside us to learn more about the sprightliness of these unbelievable creatures found nowhere else in the world , " explains the DOC onFacebook .
