snails

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'One of Most Damaging Snails' Seized at Houston Airport

Passenger had 15 live giant land snails

(Newser) - Some 15 snails that can grow to be the size of small dogs were seized from a passenger's luggage in Houston earlier this month, officials say. The banana rasp snails, also known as giant land snails, were found in the luggage of a passenger traveling from Nigeria, CBS reports....

Last Snail of Its Kind Dies in Hawaii
Death of George
the Snail Matters

Death of George the Snail Matters

He was the last of his kind in Hawaii. Species Achatinella apexfulva is no more

(Newser) - A 14-year-old Hawaiian land snail born in an effort to save its species has died as the last of its kind. The Achatinella apexfulva named George died in a state lab on New Year's Day, likely of old age, NPR reports. The first of some 750 species of Hawaiian...

Hapless Snail's Quest to Mate Thwarted, Again

Jeremy the left-curling snail's 2 potential mates turned to each other, snubbed him

(Newser) - Meet Jeremy. He's looking for love but his genitalia are tough to access—and yes this is a PG-rated story. As NPR reports, the rare left-curling snail's story surfaced last fall when scientists at the University of Nottingham made a public bid to find other left-curling snails with...

New Snail So Small, You Can Fit 10 in Eye of Needle

Found in China, it may be the world's smallest

(Newser) - Researchers have discovered a new snail in China, but they can be forgiven for overlooking it previously. The shell of angustopila dominikae measures all of 0.03 inches, reports Live Science , which notes that 10 of them could fit inside the eye of a needle. In a press release , scientists...

New Hermaphrodite Snail Gets Unusual Name

Scientists in Taiwan decide to name it after marriage equality

(Newser) - Scientists in Taiwan snuck in a nod to gay marriage when they named a snail that was newly identified on the island. The mollusks, which are hermaphrodites and thus possess both male and female reproductive organs, have for years been mistaken for A. subchinensis, a closely related land snail discovered...

Cavemen First Ate Snails 30K Years Ago
 Cavemen First 
 Ate Snails 
 30K Years Ago 
study says

Cavemen First Ate Snails 30K Years Ago

They even roasted them at site in modern-day Spain

(Newser) - The delicacy of escargot is by no means a modern one: It seems cavemen were munching on snails between 26,000 and 31,000 years ago. That's the age of an Iberian Peninsula site found by archaeologists and described in a new paper, Haaretz reports. Remains of Iberus alonensis...

Dozens of Giant Snails Stopped at LAX

Invasive species was labeled as food

(Newser) - A slow-moving Nigerian delicacy was stopped at Los Angeles International Airport when 67 giant land snails were discovered packed in picnic baskets, authorities said yesterday. The live African snails—which can grow to be 8 inches long, 5 inches wide, and live to be 10 years old—arrived with paperwork...

Invasive Worm Threatens French Cuisine

It could wipe out all the snails in Europe, warns new report

(Newser) - Devotees of French cuisine love their snails. Unfortunately, a slimy and highly invasive flatworm newly discovered in France finds them quite tasty, too, reports AFP . How invasive? "All snails in Europe could be wiped out," says Jean-Lou Justine of the National Museum of History in France. In other...

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