npr:

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.”

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

Photo: David Sischo/Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources