The world’s loneliest snail is no more.

George, a Hawaiian tree snail—and the last known member of the species Achatinella apexfulva—died on New Year’s Day. He was 14, which is quite old for a snail of his kind.

George was born in a captive breeding facility at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in the early 2000s, and soon after, the rest of his kin died. That’s when he got his name—after Lonesome George, the Pinta Island tortoise who was also the last of his kind.

For over a decade, researchers searched in vain for another member of the species for George to mate with, to no avail. (Though these snails are hermaphrodites, two adults must mate to produce offspring, and researchers refer to George as a “he.”)

“I’m sad, but really, I’m more angry because this was such a special species, and so few people knew about it,” says Rebecca Rundell, an evolutionary biologist with State University of New York who used to help care for George and his kin.

Throughout his life, George was a public face for the struggles facing Hawaiian land snails. His death highlights both the vast diversity of indigenous snails—and their desperate plight.

“I know it’s just a snail, but it represents a lot more,” says David Sischo, a wildlife biologist with the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources and coordinator of the Snail Extinction Prevention Program.

Silencing the forest

Snails were once incredibly numerous in Hawaii, and the loss of a species is a blow to the ecosystem. Records from the 19th century claim that 10,000 or more shells could be collected in a single day. “Anything that is abundant in the forest is an integral part of it,” says Michael Hadfield, an invertebrate biologist who ran the captive breeding program for rare native Hawaiian snails until the late 2000s.

When they arrived on the islands, the snails branched out and took on a variety of ecological roles. Some of these species came to function as decomposers—like earthworms, which are not native to the islands—and fulfill the essential ecological role of breaking down detritus.

The Hawaiian tree snails specialize on the gunk that grows on leaves. Upon feeding, they reduce the abundance of fungi on leaves while increasing fungal diversity—and because of that, they may have helped protect their host trees from diseases. Some biologists think healthy snail populations could have prevented the current outbreak of Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death, a new fungal pathogen wiping out native trees.

In some ways, these snails are more like mammals or birds than other invertebrates: They regularly live well into their teens, take five or more years to reach sexual maturity, and give birth to less than ten offspring per year. They’re revered in Native Hawaiian legends which hold that tree snails can sing beautifully, and are known as the ‘voice of the forest’. (It’s not clear why since they aren’t known to make audible noises.)

View Images Snails in the Achatinellinae family live on multiple Pacific islands, but are most diverse in Hawaii. Like many snails they face serious threats, particularly invasive predators, and hundreds of species have already gone extinct. Photographs courtesy David Sischo, Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources

Diverse but endangered

About a decade ago, it was commonly believed that over 90 percent of Hawaii’s snail species were gone. Researchers have re-discovered dozens of species that they thought were extinct, however, and found several new species.

The snails that remain in Hawaii are in serious trouble, though. Most are only found on a single ridge or valley, and in recent years, declines have accelerated as introduced predators have started invading their last refuges.

“We’ve had populations that have been monitored for over a decade, and they seemed stable… then, within the past two years they’ve completely disappeared,” says Sischo. “We’ve all broken down and cried in the field.”

These snails are likely to go extinct within months or a few years, Sischo says, unless they’re protected in the wild or brought into the lab.

And the same thing is happening around the world. Land snails and slugs represent about 40 percent of the known animal extinctions since 1500, more likely disappeared before becoming known to science, and many species are now on the edge. If there’s any silver lining to George’s death, it’s that it might draw attention to this hidden extinction crisis hitting the globe’s mollusks while there’s still time to do something.

Rapid fall

The snails’ decline can be blamed on invasive species, which are eating them to extinction. In particular, they’re falling victim to the rosy wolfsnail (Euglandina rosea), a snail and slug specialist that was brought to the islands to eat other mollusks: giant African snails. It found the endemic snails to be much more palatable, and has been eating through entire species at an alarming rate since its introduction in 1955.

Researchers suspect increased rainfall and higher temperatures have allowed the rosy wolfsnails to venture up in altitude into the Hawaiian snails’ last refuges. Also, the snails’ long lives may have masked their declining health, as populations could persist long after they’ve stopped producing new generations.

The downfall as been swift. Melissa Price, a molecular ecologist with University of Hawaii at Mānoa who uses genetic methods to learn more about the animals’ ecology and evolution, found out that her favorite species A. lila, went extinct in the wild last April. She helped count the last population three years ago, and at the time, there were about 300 left on ridge overlooking Punaluʻu valley and Kāneʻohe Bay.

Snail Hits Predator with Its Shell Watch this Japanese snail defend itself by swinging its shell.

“It was just the most magical spot on Earth, and then you had these beautiful, rainbow-colored snails hanging from the trees,” she recalls. But when scientists returned last year, they searched for 20 hours and only found a single individual.

The same thing is happening to other snails on the other islands. “Stuff is just blinking out,” she laments. “This entire taxonomic group is about to fall off the face of the planet.”

In the 1980s, the entire genus of Hawaiian tree snails was listed as endangered. This led Hadfield to establish a captive breeding facility in the hopes of saving the rarest species. “We knew we were seeing the last of those snails,” he says.

What remains

And it was in that laboratory at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa that George was born in the early 2000s. George’s parents, along with a handful of other members of the species, were collected from the last known population found in a few trees near Oahu's Poamoho trail in 1997.

Only a few offspring were produced, but they and their parents didn’t make it long. By the mid 2000s, “all of the Achatinella apexfulva died, except for one juvenile snail, which was George,” says Sischo.

It became a tradition amongst the snail researchers to stop at the spot where the last A. apexfulva were found and pull out binoculars to scan the trees. “We kept hoping we’d find more,” says Hadfield. But they never saw another. Thus, though George became sexually mature in 2012, he never had a mate. The snail lived over a decade in a terrarium of his own, and then, on the first day of 2019, he died.

George’s remains were preserved in ethanol and his shell will join the more than 2 million other Hawaiian land snail specimens in the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum’s malacological collection. (Malacology is the study of mollusks.)

And back in 2017, a tiny piece of George’s foot was carefully cut off and sent to scientists with the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research’s “Frozen Zoo” to provide DNA should scientists ever desire to clone him—which isn't currently possible, but likely will be in the near future. Every animal that dies in the captive breeding program is preserved, and Hadfield notes that it’s sometimes possible to get DNA from old shells as well, so there may be enough genetic diversity to bring the species back. But unless the forests they lived in are restored as well, and the invasive animals removed, there will be nowhere safe to put them.

The love shack

George spent the last two years inside a 12-foot by 44-foot modular trailer in Oahu which some have taken to calling “the love shack.” In the captive breeding program, which was officially taken over by Sischo and the Snail Extinction Prevention Program in 2016, there are 30 species of Hawaiian snail that are either extinct in the wild or exceedingly rare. Several of those species are down to fewer than 50 individuals.

Taking care of 2,000 snails isn’t easy. The animals housed in carefully designed terrariums that live inside six large environmental chambers with controlled lighting, temperature, and humidity. Roughly every other day, loads of freshly clipped branches from the snails’ host plants are brought in so the snails can feed on the algae and fungi that naturally grow on the leaves. The team also cultures a native tree fungus to add to their diet.

Researchers hope these efforts keep more species from going extinct—and that in death, as in life, George will help raise awareness of the problem.

“The land snail extinction crisis hasn’t gotten as much publicity,” Rundell notes, even though “these species are an important part of life on earth, and when they start going extinct, it means that something is really wrong with the environment that supports us.”</s>
• The last known snail from the Achatinella apexfulva species in Hawaii has died, according to the state's Department of of Land and Natural Resources.
• George, the "world's loneliest land snail," died at 14 years old and was named after the Pinta Island Galapagos tortoise called "Lonesome George."
• A small snippet of George's foot was taken in 2017 and researchers have since kept it frozen for future scientific uses.
• Although it's currently not possible to clone a snail, the scientists hope they can one day use George's sample to revive his species.

The world's loneliest land snail and last known of its species, Achatinella apexfulva, known to locals simply as "George," died on New Year's Day, killing with it hope for a species-wide recovery.

According to a press release from Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), George served as an "ambassador for the plight of the Hawaiian land snails," making headlines in local newspapers and entertaining hundreds of school children over the years. The 14-year-old land snail got his name from the Pinta Island Galapagos tortoise dubbed "Lonesome George," also the last of his species.

"While from vastly different evolutionary lineages, these Georges lived simple lives in captivity. Both quietly carried millions of years of evolution - their entire genome and blueprint for how to make them - into oblivion," wrote Hawaii DLNR in an obituary-style Facebook post.

Read more: 8 aquatic animals that might be extinct in 100 years

A. apexfulva was the first of over 750 species of land snails from Hawaii that were described in western science, with its first mention dating back to 1787 when a captain coined the new species after seeing its shell on a gifted lei. Characterized by a yellow tip known as an "apex fulva," A. apexfulva was once common in the region and were used to make leis, given their accessibility. Researchers collected the last 10 known specimens in 1997 and brought them back to a lab at the University of Hawaii for captive breeding. While some offspring were produced, all but George eventually died.

"George matured in a cage by himself, and although we called him a "he," the snail was a hermaphrodite, having both male and female parts. Unfortunately, A. apexfulva seem to have been an obligate outcrossing species, meaning that it needed a partner to reproduce," explained Hawaii DLNR, concluding that remaining species of Hawaiian land snails face threats from invasive species and climate change.

Sadly, his passing is also a harbinger of what's to come for our remaining Kāhuli (tree snails) if more is not done quickly to protect them from invasive species and climate change. Many of the island's remaining land snails are facing imminent extinction," wrote Hawaii DLNR.

A 2-millimeter snippet of George's foot was collected in 2017 for scientific purposes and remains alive in a deep freeze at San Diego's Frozen Zoo®.

"While it is currently not possible to clone a snail, it certainly will be someday," concluded Hawaii DNLR. "George may yet live again!"
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• Meet Lil' Bill, a tiny bull that's the size of a cat</s>George the snail lived to see 2019 in Hawaii.

The 14-year-old Achatinella apexfulva, was the last known of his species. He died on New Year's Day, Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources said.

The DLNR said this colorful species of land snail was the first of more than 750 species from the Hawaiian Islands described in western science. The department said the first mention was in 1787 when Captain George Dixon docked on O'ahu and was given a snail shell on a lei.

The department said in 1997 the last 10 of the species were brought to a lab at the University of Hawaii. Some offspring were produced, but all of them died except for George.

NPR said George lived alone in a cage at the department's snail lab in Kailua, Oahu. The lab has at least 30 other species close to extinction.

David Sischo, a wildlife biologist with the Hawaii Invertebrate Program, told NPR that George was a "bit of a hermit" and that he "rarely saw him outside of his shell."

The DLNR said George's death is a "significant loss" to locals. The little snail was featured in numerous news articles over the years and hundreds of children have come to visit him.

The Guardian reported that George's death "epitomizes the decline of biodiversity on the Hawaiian islands." Climate change and invasive species have wreaked havoc on the islands' natural environments.

Though he was the last of his species, scientists had hoped that George, a hermaphrodite, would still produce offspring, The Guardian reported.

Hawaiian snails like George are an important part of Hawaiian culture. A legend says snails can sing or whistle at night, and the creatures have been featured in several traditional songs, according to Scientific American.

►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the 10News app now.

Have a news tip? Email desk@wtsp.com, or visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.</s>With him went an entire species.

Formally known as Achatinella apexfulva, the 14-year-old Hawaiian tree snail was the last of its kind on the planet.

He had been lonely since shortly after his birth, living in a captive breeding facility at the University of Hawaii as part of a final attempt to save his species and others from extinction.

The Achatinella apexfulva now joins hundreds of snail species that have vanished from the Hawaiian islands over the last several decades, University of Hawaii Professor Emeritus Michael Hadfield said.

“The number of species in Hawaii was somewhere approaching 800 in 11 different families,” he said. Three-fourths of those species, he said, are now extinct.

“They were the best known tree snails, big and pretty snails, once hyper abundant in the forest … of the island,” Hadfield said of the Achatinella genus — which included Lonely George. “There’s no doubt that only 10 or so of those (species) still exist, and none of them will survive in the next 10 years.”

“The extinctions have just been horrendous.”

Hadfield ran a conservation lab for a large group of snails in the family to which Lonely George belonged. The lab studied the snails’ population growth and, in 1997, collected the last ten known snails in George’s species. Most of them later died, leaving only George.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources called George’s death “a significant loss to locals as he was featured in numerous articles and hundreds of school children have viewed him over the years.”

Why are the snails dying?

Snails were once numerous in Hawaii. But the populations have been decimated by invasive species, including rats, and habitat destruction.

Rats, which arrived on the island by ship, have been gulping down the largest snails. Meanwhile, the Rosy wolfsnail — introduced as “biocontrol” more than 50 years ago — and chameleons arriving in Hawaii as pets also have been eating native snails.

“As far as we can tell, the Hawaiian tree snails evolved with no predators, so they never developed defense mechanisms,” Hadfield says.

What’s more, snails are losing their habitat, and climbing higher up in the mountains of the islands.

“Pigs, goats, and deer degrade forest vegetation and fragment snail populations,” coordinator for the Snail Extinction Prevention Program David Sischo wrote.

Melissa Price, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii says she didn’t realize how dire the situation was until one of her favorite snail species — the Achatinella lila — went extinct last April.

“They’re rainbow colored, some striped, some deep black with an orange stripe around them,” she said. On hiking trips, she would count snail populations. The Achatinella lila species went from 300 species three years ago, to one in April.

The last few are in captive breeding programs. “They’re gone in the wild.”

Because she’s a younger professor in the field, Price said she wasn’t a part of the teams of biologists who saw the snails migrate higher and higher into the mountains.

When she observed the snails on mountain tops during hiking trips, she said she didn’t realize she was seeing the last ones.

“It’s surprisingly devastating,” she says. “They’ve been disappearing in the last two, three years. The rate of extinction is just really alarming for me.”

“This is the story that we’re seeing in every single species, we had to go up to the mountain tops to see them, when they would have been all over the island (in the past).”

And without the snails, Price said the forest is missing an important component.

“The (snails) eat the biofilm of leaves, they must help keep the trees healthy,” she said. “They decrease fungal abundance on the leaf surface and increase diversity of the fungal community.”

Biologists have saved some of George’s DNA, Hadfield said, meaning the possibility exists that the world hasn’t seen the last of the world’s loneliest snail.

“Gene banks are being expanded all over the world,” he said. “Somewhere, some day, maybe we can use this to re-establish a George.”</s>George, the last known Achatinella apexfulva snail in Hawaii, has died at the age of 14.

On Thursday, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) announced George’s passing in a press release. The snail, whose name came from the Pinta Island Galapagos tortoise, “Lonesome George,” passed away of old age on New Year’s Day. According to the DLNR, George’s passing is a major loss to local residents, who’ve seen him at local school exhibits and read about him in science articles.

According to DLNR, the Achatinella apexfulva is one of more than 750 land snail species from the Hawaiian Islands. In 1787, Captain George Dixon, who was docked on O’ahu, mentioned the Achatinella apexfulva species in his travels. These snails, which were popular in the Ko’olau Mountains and on O’ahu, were used for lei making.

Twenty-one years ago, the last ten known Achatinella apexfulva snails were brought to a University of Hawaii lab. Even though some additional offspring were produced, all of them died except for George. In 2017, a two-millimeter snippet of George’s foot was collected for research purposes, and his body tissue was freezed in a container at San Diego’s Frozen Zoo.

George’s death isn’t an isolated environmental incident. The DLNR said Hawaiian land snails are currently threatened by climate change and invasive species. In order to protect Hawaiian land snails, the state created the Snail Extinction Prevention Program (SEP). With the program, Hawaii aims to provide predator abatement and habitat protection for state snail species that face extinction.</s>HONOLULU — The last of a Hawaiian land snail species has died.

The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources says the last known Achatinella apexfulva died on New Year’s Day. It was about 14 years old and named George.

In 1997, the last 10 known of its kind were brought into a laboratory at the University of Hawaii to be raised in captivity.

Some offspring were produced but the snails all eventually died — except for George.

A 2-millimeter snippet of George’s foot was collected in 2017 for research. It remains in deep freeze in San Diego.

The snails were once common in Oahu’s Koolau mountains and were used to make lei.

The department says other remaining snails native to Hawaii face extinction from threats including invasive species and climate change.</s>George's species fell victim to cannibal snails introduced to combat African snails, one of Earth's worst invasive species

George the snail has died. George was the last known member of his species, the Oahu Treesnail (Achatinella apexfulva).

George was born in a University of Hawaii laboratory, the only survivor of attempts to propagate the species in captivity. Although Treesnails are hermaphrodites, having both male and female sexual organs, people refer to George as a "he" to align with his name, which commemorates the Pinta Island Galapagos tortoise, “Lonesome George,” also the last of its species.

He lived at a facility of the Hawaiian Department of Land & Natural Resources (DLNR), where he was a popular educator for a generation of children learning about the threats to land snails and the snail extinction prevention program operated by DLNR.

He made it 14 years, to new year's day 2019, before "shuffling off his mortal coil". In George's case, the term popularized by Shakespeare seems particularly appropriate, thanks to the yellow and chestnut whorls spiraling up the shell of the Oahu Treesnail. When the snails proliferated in the lower elevations of the Ko‘olau Mountains on Oahu, natives used the beautiful shells for lei decoration.

George's tragic snail tale is but one in an epic saga of environmental devastation visited upon snails on the Hawaiian Islands, where it is estimated that 90% of species diversity has been lost. Biologists blame habitat destruction, especially by pigs, goats, and deer (all of which are introduced species on the islands) and snail cannibalism. Specifically, the native tree snails have fallen prey to the "cannibal snail" aka the rosy wolfsnail (Euglandina rosea).

Ironically, the rosy wolfsnail was brought into Hawaii on purpose in 1955, in hopes that they would eat the troublesome African land snail, Achatina fulica, itself an invasive species, now listed as the second worst invasive alien species by the Global Invasive Species Database.

Now, hopes to save what is left of the native land snails of Hawaii rests on another new notion: the use of CRISPR gene editing tools could be used to combat the invasive cannibal snails. If the program can succeed to eliminate the threat, there is a chance that the Oahu Treesnail could once again decorate the flora and leis of the Hawaiian islands. A piece of George's foot has been saved in the San Diego frozen zoo, as a potential source for cells to clone the species once that technology matures.</s>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.

Those who knew George say he kept to himself.

"For a snail he was a little bit of a hermit," David Sischo, a wildlife biologist with the Hawaii Invertebrate Program, tells NPR. "I very rarely saw him outside of his shell."

Sischo said George likely died of old age, as 14 is "up there in snail years."

While those who knew George use male pronouns to talk about him, George was a hermaphrodite. With both male and female parts, some snails can reproduce without a partner. But seemingly not A. apexfulva: George leaves no survivors.

And while George (named for the last surviving Pinta Island Galapagos tortoise) was but one shy snail, his death takes place amid a crisis for native snails in the Hawaiian Islands, which have been called "the extinction capital of the world."

"Island flora and fauna in general are pretty susceptible to pressures that are brought in from outside areas, such as introduced species," Sischo explains. "A lot of the animals that evolved here don't have a lot of natural defenses to mammalian predators and diseases that are brought in from mainland areas."

Hawaii's native snail populations have been decimated by a series of invasive species arriving there, including rats and Jackson's chameleons, a native of Kenya brought to the islands as pets.

Then there is Snail Enemy Number One: the rosy wolfsnail. A predatory Florida snail introduced to Hawaii in the 1950s to control agricultural pests, it has an enormous appetite for other snails.

"Unfortunately it hasn't been a great bio control for what it was brought in for, and it's just completely devouring our native snail fauna," Sischo says. "That particular invasive species is probably the main driver of extinction."

To try to save Hawaii's imperiled snails, Sischo and his colleagues at the state's Snail Extinction Prevention Program will jump into action if they recognize that a species' population is crashing or spot a very rare snail. They will bring members of the species into captivity, put up predator-proof fencing around small habitat areas, and then reintroduce species into those areas. Sischo calls these measures "manning the lifeboats" — a sort of stopgap against extinction.

But time is running short: Sischo suspects most of the large tree snail species on the islands that are alive now will be extinct in the wild within the next five to 10 years.

"We have the tools to protect these species, it's just a matter of if we can do it in enough time," he says. "It's hard to convey that timeframe to people because they don't understand how quickly we're losing these things."

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.

But now, "it's a ghost town" if you're looking for native snails, Sischo says. "We go to these areas and the host plants are there, and the conditions are right, and they're just not there."

In Sischo's line of work, witnessing the last days of a species is common. He estimates that since he began working with snails in 2007, he's been the last person to see 10 or 20 species in the wild.

Even so, his heart sank a bit when he learned that George had died.

"It's not so much that this one particular snail died, but it's all of the history that goes with George," he says, explaining that A. apexfulva was the very first snail species in the Hawaiian Islands to be described by Western science.

"I mean, he's the last of his kind. ... To have that last individual perish under your watch, it's pretty depressing."</s>George, a Hawaiian tree snail who lived to the age of 14 and is the last known snail of his kind, has died.

The beloved and rare snail, who is named after the Pinta Island tortoise "Lonesome George," was a local celebrity — mostly among children. It died on New Year's Day, officials said.

According to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Achatinella apexfulva was the first of over 750 species of land snail from the Hawaiian Islands to be described by Western science. In 1997, the last of 10 were brought to a University of Hawaii laboratory for captive rearing, but when the lab experienced a die-off, they all perished except for George.

Although researchers labeled George a "he," the snail was a hermaphrodite, having both male and female parts. Sadly, researchers were never able to find another member of the species for George to mate with. George matured in a cage by himself, feeding on fungus.

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"For a snail he was a little bit of a hermit," David Sischo, a wildlife biologist with the Hawaii Invertebrate Program, told NPR. "I very rarely saw him outside of his shell."

Sischo added that George likely died of old age, as 14 is "up there in snail years."

Throughout his life, George was often in the spotlight, serving as a symbol for the plight of all Hawaiian snails. He was frequently featured in newspaper, magazine and online articles, and hundreds of delighted school children and visitors to the lab eagerly viewed him.

“I’m sad, but really, I’m more angry because this was such a special species, and so few people knew about it,” Rebecca Rundell, an evolutionary biologist with State University of New York who used to help care for George and his kin, told National Geographic.

The publication reports that George spent the last two years of his life inside a modular trailer, along with a few dozen other species of Hawaiian snail, that researchers dubbed "the love shack."

Hawaii's native snail populations have been hurt by a range of invasive species that have arrived, including rats and Jackson's chameleons, as well as climate change, according to scientists. A number of the island's other remaining land snails also face imminent extinction.

Researchers in California have also noted that the population of western monarch butterflies is "disturbingly low" as that species is facing is dealing with the region's severe weather, wildfires and droughts.

"I mean, he's the last of his kind. ... To have that last individual perish under your watch, it's pretty depressing," said Sischo.

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However, all hope for this particular snail species may not be lost forever.

A two-millimeter snippet of George's foot was collected in 2017 for research purposes and the living tissue remains alive in a deep freeze container at San Diego's Frozen Zoo.

"While it is currently not possible to clone a snail, it certainly will be someday," said Hawaii's DLNR, adding: "George may yet live again!"</s>George, a Hawaiian tree snail – also a 14-year-old local celebrity and the last known snail of his kind – will no longer be able to entertain school children, or eat tree fungus.

He died on New Year's Day, according to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR).

The death of George, and the resulting extinction of this species of tree snail (Achatinella apexfulva), should serve as a wake-up call, highlighting a much larger issue in Hawaii's forests that's been going on for a century.

George the snail, named after the Pinta Island tortoise Lonesome George, never lived in a forest, being born in captivity and growing up in a lab.

As it happens, George was a hermaphrodite, but it seems that two snails of Achatinella apexfulva are required to produce offspring.

In times passed, these snails had a long adolescence, only reproducing a couple of times a year after the age of 4 or 5, and living relatively long lives (for snails).

"In 1997, the last 10 known Achatinella apexfulva were brought to a laboratory at the University of Hawaii for captive rearing," explains Hawaii DLNR on their Facebook page announcing the sad news.

"A few babies were born, but when the lab experienced a die-off for unknown reasons, all the Achatinella apexfulva perished expect for one lone individual, and that was George."

As unfortunate as it was, this mysterious die-off is just another entry in a long line of human errors and environmental catastrophes that have decimated snail populations in Hawaii.

According to David Sischo, a snail extinction prevention program coordinator for the Hawaii Invertebrate Program, the first snail species that was ever written about by a non-native scientist was in fact Achatinella apexfulva, all the way back in 1780.

In those times, and even a hundred years later, snails were everywhere on Hawaii. According to National Geographic, there are 19th century records boasting how up to 10,000 snails could be collected in just one day.

Snails fulfilled a variety of purposes on the island, like helping plant matter decompose, or eating fungi on leaves – which may have protected their tree hosts from disease.

"Anything that is abundant in the forest is an integral part of it," Michael Hadfield, an invertebrate biologist who used to run the captive breeding program for rare native Hawaiian snails, told National Geographic.

But by the early 1900s, some snail species became extinct, due to Europeans collecting them like they were baseball cards (why did you think they knew they could collect 10,000 in a day?).

Alas, the Hawaiian snails had seen nothing yet. In 1955, the rosy wolfsnail (Euglandina rosea) was introduced into Hawaii to control for another invasive snail, the African land snail (Achatina fulica).

But as many of these introductions go, nothing went to plan. The wolfsnail eats other snails, and although it did munch through the African land snail population to a limited extent, it had a much larger appetite for native snails.

"We were just watching snails disappear, disappear, disappear," biologist Michael G Hadfield from the University of Hawaii told The Guardian.

"We could see them vanishing before our eyes."

Hadfield began studying the snails in the 1970s, and by the early 1980s, the populations had been decimated, and the scientists began conserving the snails, by bringing them into their labs.

It is thought that the rosy wolfsnail is responsible for the extinction of up to a third of the native gastropods.

Although this is a terrifying picture if you're a surviving Hawaiian tree snail, there is some good news.

There are thousands of native snails living at the Hawaii Invertebrate Program, and, according to Sischo, some snails have been re-introduced into remote forest areas. With any luck, in these remote areas, they will be free of both human and the rosy wolfsnail's clutches.

Let's just hope that George's death is the catalyst for stopping these extinctions – if we can get a handle on invasive species, not to mention climate change.

As DLNR writes so poignantly, "George, the last known Achatinella apexfulva, died on New Year's Day 2019 ... he is survived by none."
The University of Hawaii reports that Lonely George, the last known member of the Achatinella apexfulva species of land snail in Oahu, Hawaii, died aged 14 on New Year's Day. Despite being listed as critically endangered the species is now considered extinct.