Mount Augustus (New Zealand) facts for kids

Mount Augustus was a mountain located on the West Coast of New Zealand. It was special because it was the only known home for a unique type of meat-eating snail. Sadly, this mountain no longer exists. It was removed as part of a large coal mining operation.

What Was Mount Augustus?

Mount Augustus was a mountain on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It stood about 1,010 meters (3,314 feet) tall. This mountain was part of the Stockton mine area.

A Mountain That Disappeared

Unlike most mountains, Mount Augustus was completely removed. This happened because it was sitting on top of valuable coal. Mining companies needed to dig up the coal, so the mountain was taken away. This process is called "open-cast mining," where the land is removed to get to minerals underneath.

Home to Unique Snails

Mount Augustus was famous for being the only known home of a very special snail. This snail is called Powelliphanta augusta. It's a type of carnivorous snail, which means it eats other small creatures, not plants!

The Powelliphanta augusta Snail

The Powelliphanta augusta is a large, air-breathing land snail. It can grow quite big, sometimes as large as a human fist. These snails are predators. They hunt and eat earthworms and slugs. They use a special rasping tongue to catch their prey.

Discovery and Protection

Scientists first discovered and described this snail from Mount Augustus. The very first snail used to officially name and describe the species is called a "type specimen." Because these snails only lived on Mount Augustus, their habitat was destroyed when the mountain was removed.

To protect the snails, thousands of them were carefully moved to new homes. These new places were similar to their original habitat. This effort was made to save the species from disappearing forever.