Photo Credit RZSS
Snail mail: RZSS
reintroduces rare Partula snails
to Tahiti
Conservation charity
the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) has provided hundreds of
critically endangered Partula snails to be reintroduced to their native habitat
of French Polynesia. Most species of the tree snails became extinct as a result
of predation by the introduced rosy wolf snail; however, thanks to the combined
conservation efforts of RZSS Edinburgh Zoo and its partners, a number of the
species were rescued from complete extinction.
RZSS Edinburgh Zoo
has sent off five different species of Partula snail to be returned to the wild
this September, with further reintroductions planned for later this year and
next. The critically endangered Partula affinis will return to its native Tahiti,
whilst Partula mooreana, Partula suturalis vexillum, Partula tohiveana and
Partula taeniata simulans (which are all extinct in the wild) will be returning
to the island of Mooreana.
RZSS has been
involved with the conservation of the Partula snail since 1984 and was given
the very last captive individual of the Partula taeniata simulans subspecies in
2010, which RZSS Edinburgh Zoo has subsequently bred back to a safe level of
several hundred, helped by the fact that this individual had been fertilised
and produced viable young. The Zoo was awarded the prestigious “BIAZA Award for
Significant Contribution to Conservation Breeding” in 2012 for saving this
subspecies of Partula snail from extinction.
Gareth Bennett,
Senior Presenter at RZSS Edinburgh Zoo, said: “It is extremely exciting to be
able to send some of our Partula snails, which we have been breeding for years,
to be reintroduced directly back into their native habitat."
“This is a wonderful
conservation success story and further demonstrates the critical role zoos can
play in species conservation. We hope that the Partula reintroduction will
provide a model framework for other species reintroduction programmes worldwide.”
The various
subspecies of Partula snails kept in captivity are managed under the
International Partulid Conservation Programme, which is coordinated by ZSL
London Zoo and combines the breeding programme for 17 species in 16 different
zoos around the world with conservation work in the Polynesian islands.
Approximately 46 out of 65 identified species of Polynesian Partula are
extinct.
Peter Dickinson
Independent International Zoo Consultant        |
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