{"id":103490,"date":"2025-08-28T15:22:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T15:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/103490\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T15:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T15:22:08","slug":"observologists-search-new-zealand-to-give-rare-snail-ned-a-chance-at-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/103490\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Observologists\u2019 search New Zealand to give rare snail Ned a chance at love"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                Facebook<\/p>\n<p>                Tweet<\/p>\n<p>        <a class=\"social-share_labelled-list__share\" href=\"mailto:?subject=CNN%20content%20share&amp;body=Check%20out%20this%20article%3A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2025%2F08%2F28%2Fworld%2Fnew-zealand-snail-lonely-love-intl-hnk\" data-type=\"email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-label=\"share with email\" title=\"Share with email\"><\/p>\n<p>                Email<br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                Link<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmeuyupq900043d5u701h3kme@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            From a little garden in New Zealand, comes a lonely snail looking for love.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmeuyupq900053d5u2pn1d3d2@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Ned is ying to another mollusc\u2019s yang, but finding a match for him has become a nationwide effort.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmeuyupq900063d5uwku6jm59@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            That is because Ned\u2019s shell spirals left, while almost all other snails have right spiraling shells. It\u2019s a one in 40,000 genetic condition among the common corno espersum, or garden snail, and it means Ned\u2019s reproductive organs don\u2019t line up with most others.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmeuyupq900073d5u1b1m42s3@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cI was quite breathless for a moment,\u201d says Giselle Clarkson, an author, illustrator and self-described \u2018observologist\u2019 who found Ned while digging in her garden in Wairarapa, just north of capital Wellington.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmeuyupq900083d5uhlg7c2iy@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cI was just pulling out this plant, and a snail tumbled into the dirt and I was just about to scoop it up and just chuck it off to the side, when I realized what I had,\u201d Clarkson told CNN.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmeuyupq900093d5ucwoxqn87@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            It was a serendipitous moment for Ned, now named for Homer Simpson\u2019s left-handed neighbor. Clarkson was aware of this rare asymmetry in snails from her work with the magazine New Zealand Geographic.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmeuyupq9000a3d5u0jwyc1ac@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Clarkson now keeps Ned in a fishtank in her home, protecting him from hungry birds while he waits patiently for his first date. To help him, young and old across New Zealand <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzgeo.com\/stories\/lets-find-a-mate-for-ned\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">are being encouraged <\/a>to take up \u201cobservology\u201d, or \u201cthe science of looking,\u201d created by Clarkson in book she wrote to inspire young naturalists.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmeuyupq9000b3d5uyqwl08cd@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cThat\u2019s the heart of this whole thing, getting people to have this little moment of connection to nature by paying attention, and honing their observational skills in a way that they wouldn\u2019t otherwise,\u201d Clarkson says.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmeuyupq9000c3d5u23pdnh9j@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cThe more you pay attention to what\u2019s there every day, the more likely you are to actually notice the unusual and the anomalies or the rare things.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmeuyupq9000d3d5uddvg0km2@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Ned\u2019s romantic prospects now lie with New Zealanders taking a moment to connect with the natural world around them, and focusing on the creatures often overlooked. Clarkson thinks people\u2019s love of nature will give Ned a chance.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmev39fsl00043b6nbrmz1nwf@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Then it\u2019s down to him.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmeuyupq9000e3d5uivsb0twm@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cI think the odds are not bad. But, you know, they might be physically compatible once they get together, but it doesn\u2019t mean that sparks will fly. Their personalities will have to match.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link From a little garden in New Zealand, comes a lonely snail looking for love.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-103490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}