There’s no doubt about it – animal reproduction can get downright bizarre. Nature doesn’t always follow the rules we expect, and sometimes it veers straight into the realm of the absurd. Take, for example, a curious little snail species you’ve probably never heard of. It has a truly baffling biological quirk: it lays its eggs through an opening in its neck.
Just let that sink in for a moment.
Yeah, no, I'm as puzzled as you are. The neck?! We’re used to eggs coming out the back end, maybe a cloaca if we’re talking birds or reptiles, but the neck? That’s a whole new frontier in weird.
Here, see for yourself:
This rare creature, known as Powelliphanta augusta, was discovered less than 30 years ago and is found only in New Zealand. There likely aren't a lot of them because, unlike garden snails, they reproduce in tiny numbers and take forever to get around to it.
Speaking of reproducing, these snails are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female genitalia. That's handy because, as New Zealand Department of Conservation's (DOC) senior science advisor Kath Walker explains, "as carnivores which have to live at relatively low density, being able to occasionally self-fertilize must help with survival of the species.”
These snails also mate with others, by extending their penis out of a genital pore that lies just below their head, into another snail's opening. In fact, both snails do this with each other simultaneously, so they both exchange sperm that can be stored to fertilize and create eggs later on.
Having genitals and laying eggs from just below the head makes sense if you're a snail: the rest of their soft bodies are safely ensconced in a shell, and they don't need to expose themselves to the elements and other dangers to mate or give birth.
This clip is practically the first time anyone's ever seen a Powelliphanta augusta lay an egg. DOC ranger Lisa Flanagan, who has been looking after these snails for the last 12 years and filmed the phenomenon, spotted it while weighing one of the snails, and had never witnessed it before. As it turns out, these snails only begin to lay eggs once they sexually mature at around eight years of age – and even then, they only lay about five eggs annually.
Powelliphanta augusta is believed to have only been found on the Mount Augustus ridgeline in New Zealand's town of Westport, and said ridgeline was removed by mining operations. Environmental nonprofit TerraNature Trust noted that when the DOC came upon them, it was estimated that there were only 800-1,000 of them alive.
The agency says it has established new populations of the snail in the wild, rescuing it from the brink of extinction after its habitat was destroyed.
If you're into wonders of the animal world like this, you might also enjoy learning why killer whales smash boats, how we're using AI to speak the language of dolphins, and the ways of real-life zombie parasites in the wild.
Source: Department of Conservation
