Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

hatrack

(59,446 posts)
Fri Jan 11, 2019, 08:44 AM Jan 2019

Hawaiian Snail Extinctions: "We're Just Trying To Stop The Bleeding"

George, the last individual of a Hawaiian tree snail species known only as Achatinella apexfulva, died New Year’s Day in a laboratory on Oahu, where he had been a bit of a local celebrity. “He was featured in many newspaper, magazine and online articles, and hundreds of school children and visitors to the lab eagerly viewed him, the last of his kind,” the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources wrote in announcing his passing.

Once widespread and admired for their beauty, Achatinella apexfulva (a hermaphroditic species, despite the masculine name and pronouns) was nearly wiped out decades ago by an overzealous industry that collected and strung together their shells into traditional leis. “The species was actually thought to be extinct quite some time ago,” explains David Sischo, a biologist who coordinates Hawaii’s Snail Extinction Prevention Program. “Then, in 1997, a small population was rediscovered in a couple of trees along a hiking path on Oahu.” The last 10 snails were brought to a captive-breeding facility, where they reproduced, giving birth to George and a few other baby snails. The success didn’t last long. “Unfortunately there was a pathogen or something — we’re not sure what — and all of the population died except for this one,” Sischo says. Now — after 14 years living in captivity — George, too, has died. No other members of the species have been found in the wild in the years since, so the species is almost certainly extinct.

EDIT

“It’s pretty shocking how fast this extinction event is happening,” Sischo says. “Based on the declines that we’ve seen over the past two years, we expect all of our large tree and ground snails — at least, most of the populations that are left — to be gone within one to 10 years.” Sischo reports that many snail populations have vanished practically in front of his eyes. “We’ve had many instances where we were, like, five minutes too late,” he says. “There have been times when we’ve just wanted to cry because we’ve gone back to a place where we were expecting to find hundreds of snails and we found 10 or zero — and it was the day we’d actually gone to bring some of them into captivity to save them.”

The declines can mostly be attributed to invasive predators, including rats (Rattus rattus) and other rodents, Jackson’s chameleons (Trioceros jacksonii), and, ironically enough, another snail — a predatory species called the rosy wolfsnail (Euglandina rosea) that was imported from Florida. Compounding the irony, the wolfsnail was first imported to Hawaii in the hopes that it would eat another invasive species, the giant African land snail (Lissachatina fulica), which was consuming crops on the islands.

EDIT

https://therevelator.org/hawaii-snail-extinction-crisis/

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Environment & Energy»Hawaiian Snail Extinction...