25 Aug 2025

Nationwide hunt launched for left handed snail mate

From Checkpoint, 4:22 pm on 25 August 2025

A campaign has been launched to help a rare snail find a mate. Ned, was unearthed in a Wairarapa garden earlier this month and found to be something quite special; a left handed snail. That's a snail that's shell spirals in anti-clockwise direction from its smallest point. The problem is, Ned will need to mate with another lefthanded snail, and New Zealand Geographic have launched a nation-wide snail hunt to help him find one. Illustrator, gardener and Ned's finde, Giselle Clarkson spoke to Lisa Owen.