Scientists in New Zealand have captured a snail laying eggs from its neck. The species is known as Powelliphanta augusta, also called the Mount Augustus snail. The snails were being bred and reared in captivity for nearly 20 years, but this is the first time that the researchers saw one laying an egg.

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The snails also have a strange mating process. The carnivorous land snails use a “genital pore” just below their head for sex. Mount Augustus is the only habitat that the scientists are aware of where these snails were once found. However, a coal mining operation destroyed their space, almost wiping them off the face of Earth.

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation stepped in and started raising the snails in Hokitika in 2006. It has finally managed to witness one of the snails laying an egg from its neck. The DOC also shared a video of awe-inspiring video on YouTube.

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First time in 20 years 

Ranger Lisa Flanaga said in a statement, "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."

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“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.”

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Mount Augustus snails also have both male and female sexual organs, just like other land snails. They can mate with any other snail or even self-fertilise. To have sex, the snails use a genital pore under their neck. This is also the point in their body from where they lay their eggs.

How Mount Augustus snails mate

Explaining the process, Flanagan stated, “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."

The P augusta snails achieve sexual maturity after eight years, which means they cannot lay eggs before they have been on Earth for this duration. Besides, it takes a year for their eggs to hatch, and they only lay five eggs per year. This has made survival of the species quite tough. 

The DOC has been working towards increasing its numbers and has also released some of them into the wild. It plans on keeping these snails in captivity for more years since they can survive in the conditions for 30 years.