George, Reclusive Hawaiian Snail And Last Of His Kind, Dies At 14

[jpak]

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/07/682908544/george-reclusive-hawaiian-snail-and-last-of-his-kind-dies-at-14

George, the last of his species of Hawaiian land snail, died on New Year's Day. He was approximately 14 years old.

His death was confirmed by Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources.

George was born as part of a last-ditch effort to save his species. Back in 1997, the last 10 known Achatinella apexfulva were brought into a University of Hawaii lab to try to increase their numbers. Some offspring resulted, but all of them died – except for George.

As the last remaining A. apexfulva, George lived out his days alone in a cage at DLNR's snail lab in Kailua, Oahu, alongside 30 other species close to extinction.

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[femmedem]

1. ...

[912gdm]

2. RIP George.

The last of its species.

[Scarsdale]

3. Poor little guy.

All alone in a cage. Maybe if he had had company of some sort, it would have kept him alive? R.I.P George.

[SamIam715]

11. Alone??

That was my first thought... makes this post doubly sad.😢

[Ms. Toad]

13. Age takes its toll, eventually, even if you have companions.

The article indicates 14 is pretty old for a snail.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

4. Sad to see any species disappear.

...........

I fear our own human species' karma is about to accelerate........

Perhaps some snail species will then cry for us.....

[Blue_true]

22. The history of the earth is full of species extinction.

What is different now is our activity has accelerated that dynamic. But our time will come.

I wonder whether we will be around longer that the dinosaurs? My guess, we won't come close. We are 11-16 million years in, the dinosaurs went something like 250 million years.

[pazzyanne]

5. Another species enters extinction.

There are so many more species on that endangered list that it is a monumental task to try to save them. I really get angry when a species is removed from the endangered species list because of a number, and then open season is reinstated s
o gun lovers can hang a trophy on their wall. Words fail me!

Rest in peace, George. There are many who mourn your passing.

[catbyte]

6. Sigh. That's a parallel to what we did to the Hawaiians. Overran them then caged them.

R.I.P., George. I'm sorry.

Edited to add:

[912gdm]

16. +1.

[rpannier]

7. George lived out his days alone in a cage at DLNR's snail lab in Kailua

Very, very sad

[samnsara]

8. cant they clone him from slime?

[Zambero]

9. Well, it certainly worked with Donnie Jr.

Sadly, it appears that the evil form of slime is more successful in propagating itself!

[JudyM]

17. !

[Boomerproud]

21. Duzy!

[912gdm]

19. Good news,

"In the longer term, biotechnology like CRISPR "gene drives" may be able to eliminate predators. And in 2017, a couple millimeters from George's foot were taken to San Diego's Frozen Zoo, where his cells live on in deep freeze, waiting for advances in snail cloning. But those technologies aren't here yet, so for now, Sischo and his colleagues move as fast as they can, scooping up rare snails and installing fences."


From the article....

[Joe Nation]

10. That is sad....

I didn't even know George was sick.

But then...

"Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural “background” rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate we're now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day."

George was doomed.

[Blue_true]

24. We definitely have greatly damaged the planet with our greed and contempt

for all but our favored species.

[Takket]

12. RIP big guy. You were too beautiful for this world.

[scipan]

14. RIP George

[BlueStater]

15. Wow, I had no idea snails could live that long.

RIP George.

[UniteFightBack]

18. This makes me very sad. nt

[montana_hazeleyes]

20. This is so sad.

I'm glad we know about him so we can care about the poor lonely fella.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

23. damn

George is a good argument for cloning research.