![]() Americans have, by now, grown inured to “last of” stories, which appear with the unsurprising regularity of seasonal dessert recipes. George’s passing prompted a spate of headlines, and then, it seems safe to say, was forgotten. ![]() and a species.” “Unfortunately, he is survived by none,” it observed. ![]() A few days after he went, presumably gently, into that good night, the department posted a eulogy under the heading “ farewell to a beloved snail . . . Researchers with Hawaii’s forestry department had tried to find a partner for him-George was a hermaphrodite, but he needed a mate in order to reproduce-and when they couldn’t they concluded that he was the last of his kind, Achatinella apexfulva. He was born in captivity, in Honolulu, and had spent his unassuming life oozing around his terrarium, consuming fungi. George, who was about an inch long, had a grayish body, grayish tentacles, and a conical shell striped in beige and brown. The first documented extinction of 2019 occurred on New Year’s Day, with the death of a Hawaiian tree snail named George. ![]()
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