Photo: Ryan Kellman/NPR.
Inside this lab in Hawaii, David Sischo and his team care for 40 species of snails. For some snails, it’s the only place they live, having been brought into captivity to stave off extinction.
If we take care of the least of Earth’s organisms, we ultimately take care of ourselves. That’s one reason why today’s story on some obscure research actually matters, even at a time when humanity seems to have bigger issues on its plate.
Lauren Sommer and Ryan Kellman report at National Public Radio about Hawaii’s “jewels of the forest.”
“When Hurricane Douglas came barreling toward Oahu in 2020, David Sischo quickly packed up and drove to higher ground. But he wasn’t evacuating his family. He was evacuating snails.
“Sischo works with some of the rarest endangered species on the planet, kāhuli — Hawaii’s native tree snails. The colorful, jewel-like snails were once so abundant, it’s said they were like Christmas ornaments covering the trees. Almost all of the 750 different species were found only in Hawaii.
“Today, more than half of those species are gone, the extinctions happening in the span of a human lifetime. Sischo and his team with Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources have the heavy task of saving what’s left.
“To stave off extinction, 40 species of snails, each about the size of a dime, live in human care inside an unremarkable trailer near Honolulu. For some, it’s the only place they’re found, their wild populations having completely disappeared.
” ‘Most people, when they think endangered species going extinct, they think of pandas and tigers and elephants, but imagine having 40 different panda species that are all as rare as pandas are,’ Sischo says. ‘That’s what this facility is.’
“This winter, one species of snail will inch toward an auspicious milestone. It will be released in a special enclosure in the mountains of Oahu, one that has been painstakingly prepared to give the snails the best chance of survival in their natural environment.
“Still, the outlook for Hawaii’s snails is uncertain, symbolizing a new era in the conservation of endangered species. Around the world, plants and animals are being brought into captivity as a last-ditch effort against extinction. But as the climate heats up and invasive species continue to spread, many have no clear path to return to nature in the near-term. That could mean they stay in human care, isolated in zoos for the imperiled. …
” ‘I don’t think people realize how fast things are changing,’ Sischo says. ‘It’s happening, like right now as I’m talking to you, there’s species blinking out, out in the wild right now.’
“To keep that from happening to Hawaii’s native snails, Sischo never turns off his phone. They rely on life support systems in the Snail Extinction Prevention Program trailer, kept in environmental chambers that control temperature and release mist to simulate their native rainforest habitat. Sensors are set up to detect any problems, alerting Sischo and his team 24 hours a day. …
“Sischo pulls out one with snails the size of a fingernail hiding among the leaves. It’s Achatinella fulgens, a snail with a pale yellow shell and a bold black stripe swirling around it. … Other snails have intricate stripe patterns, almost like they’re sporting a plaid shirt. One snail has a shell like a miniature cinnamon roll. Some are almost iridescent, glowing with golds and greens.
” ‘Our tree snails are known as the jewels of the forest,’ he says. ‘The islands were dripping in snails. They were everywhere.’
“Hawaii’s tree snails play a crucial role in the ecosystem, having evolved over millions of years on the isolated islands. They don’t actually eat leaves, instead eating the fungus that grows on them. That helps keep the native trees clean and recycles nutrients in the forest. The snails also hold an important place in Native Hawaiian culture, their shells used to make lei.
” ‘In Hawaiian tradition, snails sing,’ Sischo says. ‘They represent voice. So they were probably one of the most revered invertebrates in the world.’
“Hawaii’s tree snails were no match for the barrage of changes that humans brought. Rats eat snails, and they arrived on ships, both Polynesian and European. The snails’ habitat disappeared as Hawaii’s forests were cleared for agriculture. But the biggest threat came in the form of another snail.
“In the 1950s, a predatory snail was introduced to Hawaii from Florida. The rosy wolf snail was released to control another invasive snail, but as so many invasive species stories go, it quickly spread. Rosy wolf snails are exceptionally good at eating native snails, hunting them down by following their slime trails and ripping them from their shells.
” ‘When they encounter a slime trail, they know the direction it was going,’ Sischo says. ‘Once they’re locked in on a trail from a native snail, they go right up to it. There’s no getting away.’ “
Oh, gee. That’s exactly what I meant in a recent post about introducing a species to address a problem. What if the fix goes awry and creates new problems?
More at NPR, here. No paywall.
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