The tale ofJeremy the “ lefty”snail started in a compost heap in London in 2016 , where Jeremy was happen upon by a former scientist from London ’s Natural History Museum who recognized his left - coil shell as a “ one in a million ” familial mutation . MostCornu aspersum(garden escargot ) have a shell that coil to the right of their body . Jeremy ’s coiled to the left . Being so rare meant his search for love was that much harder – sex with another snail would be rather difficult , what with Jeremy ’s genitals sit on the incorrect side . The emotional roller coaster of the quest came to resemble a weepy movie with many aplot pull , but has also allow scientific brainwave into the cause of Jeremy ’s condition and on similar transposed body structures in other animals , include ourselves .
merrily , two potential love interests were witness in June 2017 . But disaster struck when rather of vying for the attention of our hero , the two snails – Lefty and Tomeau – chose to mate with each other or else . ( Fun fact : escargot are gynandromorph , so have both solidification of reproductive organs ) . Lefty successfully had youngster , and poor jilt Jeremy , in a heroic show of being the boastful snail , was spotted by his minders acting as “ uncle ” to the teeny gastropod .
Undeterred by being once again left on the sidelines , Jeremy eventually became the lead star as Tomeu produced a batch of 56 babies – about one - third of which were trust to have been " fathered " by Jeremy . Interestingly , just like their half - sibling before them , Jeremy ’s offspring all dream up with right coiling casing , march that sometimes two wrong do make a right .
The science behind this star - cross buff give away insights into thegenetic origins of coil direction , with one theory suggesting lefties could arise from specific combinations of dominant and recessive version of the genes that define shell - coil focusing . This think that Jeremy ’s righty babies were more likely to themselves produce allow for - spiral baby in the next generation , or even the multiplication after that .
The public appeal to find lefty honey for Jeremy made it possible to match him with fellow mutant snail
Like all great love stories , Jeremy ’s last snap at love prove to be a bittersweet solemnisation when he died shortly after . In a crush tone ending email to IFLScience , Dr Davison said : “ Although it is unfortunate that Jeremy has gone , the help that we have received from the public has been amazing . Because of the rarity of lefty garden snails , we have never before been able to get two lefty snails together to study the hereditary pattern of the condition … None of this would have been potential without the public ’s assistance . "
“ We helped clear one of nature ’s puzzles , which was very square , " Davison pronounce in astatement . " There was also a felicitous end for Jeremy , the snail , in finding honey and producing materialisation , albeit just before die . "
