Uncommon Creature Declared Extinct Returns to Wild After Huge Conservation Effort

• The Partula tohiveana snail has been reclassified as critically endangered after beforehand being declared extinct
• The snail’s comeback is credited to a decades-long conservation program led by the Zoological Society of London
• The uncommon species was reintroduced in French Polynesia and have begun to breed within the wild

A tiny, uncommon creature is not extinct. 

The Partula tohiveana snail has been reclassified as critically endangered by the IUCN Crimson Checklist after being beforehand declared extinct within the wild, in response to a launch from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). ZSL is the charity behind the London Zoo.

The peanut-sized mollusks’ comeback is credited to a decades-long conservation program led by ZSL and its companions world wide. This system’s success led to the snail’s reintroduction in French Polynesia.

“It is a landmark second for Partula tohiveana and for many years of worldwide conservation work,” London Zoo curator Paul Pearce-Kelly, who additionally leads the conservation program, stated in an announcement. “Seeing a species return from the brink after years of collaborative effort is strictly why we do what we do.”

He added, “Demonstrating how conservation in zoos is about a lot greater than sustaining insurance coverage populations — this inspiring information exhibits our real-world impression and the way we’re bringing a few of the most susceptible species again from the brink of extinction. As ZSL approaches its two hundredth anniversary subsequent 12 months, this can be a improbable success for our longest-running conservation challenge.”

The press launch states that the reclassification follows the invention of grownup Partula snails born within the wild in Mo’orea.

Organizations that labored on the dialog challenge with London Zoo embody the French Polynesian Authorities, the College of Cambridge, and conservationists at Bristol Zoological Society, Detroit Zoological Society, Marwell Wildlife, Poznan Zoo, Riga Zoo, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Saint Louis Zoo, Sedgwick County Zoo, Whipsnade Zoo, Wild Discovery, Woodland Park Zoo, Wuppertal Zoo and Zoo Schwerin. 

ZSL began breeding the snails within the Eighties after the invasive carnivorous rosy wolf snail started to threaten the Partula tohiveana snail’s wild inhabitants.

“The devoted program noticed conservationists take care of and breed the species in rigorously managed circumstances at London Zoo and zoos throughout the globe earlier than massive numbers of snails had been marked with UV reflective paint and punctiliously launched again into their forest habitats in French Polynesia,” the discharge stated.

Peace-Kelly famous that this system’s success speaks not solely to the snails’ resilience but additionally to the “results of unbelievable worldwide collaboration and dedication.”

Fiona Sach, ZSL’s zoo conservation impression supervisor, added, “It is extremely rewarding to see these snails not solely surviving however thriving in protected wild habitat once more, and it provides us actual hope for the various different species we’re working to deliver again from extinction.”

St. Louis Zoo, a United States hub for the reintroduction program, introduced the invention of the wild-born Partula snail in September 2024.

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The 2024 reintroduction noticed the discharge of about 6,000 snails from 10 species and sub-species of Partula snails raised at zoos worldwide. The Missouri zoo coordinated the cargo of over 3,200 snails from quite a few zoos to Tahiti for the discharge.

St. Louis Zoo raised about 1,000 of the launched snails.