Source: Radio New Zealand
Ned was unearthed in a Wairarapa garden in AUgust 2025 and was found to be something quite special – a left-spiralled snail. Supplied / Giselle Clarkson
A rare snail’s quest to find a mate has come to an abrupt end.
But not because he found true love. Ned the snail died last week.
According to an article published on the New Zealand Geographic website, Ned died last Wednesday.
“He was inside his pāua-shell abode when he passed,” Giselle Clarkson, Ned’s keeper, told New Zealand Geographic.
“That’s where he slept every day.”
Clarkson spoke to RNZ in August 2025 when a campaign was launched to help find Ned a mate.
Ned was found in Clarkson’s Wairarapa garden earlier that month and was found to be something quite special – a left-spiralling snail.
His shell spirals in an anti-clockwise direction from its smallest point, while the vast majority of snails boast a clockwise spiral on their shell.
It was a problem for Ned because the physical logistics meant the snail needed another lefty in order to mate.
Clarkson told New Zealand Geographic that Ned had eaten some cucumber, carrot and French beans before his death.
“Boy, he loved his French beans,” she said.
After she found Ned dead, Clarkson said her first thought was that his death was sooner than she had expected.
The second – given the media attention following the campaign launch – was: “Oh my god, please tell me I don’t have to talk to the BBC about this”, she told New Zealand Geographic.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
