HONOLULU — Thousands of rare and endangered Hawaiian kahuli (land snails) had a major upgrade to their digs last week, as the state’s Snail Extinction Prevention Program officials relocated the mollusks from a small trailer in Kailua, O‘ahu, to a lab in Pearl City, O‘ahu.
While Hawai‘i once housed as many as 750 distinct kahuli species, an estimated 60 percent of those species are now extinct. To protect what snails remain, SEPP has accumulated 8,000 kahuli representing 38 critically imperiled species.
However, the program’s success quickly filled the tiny Kailua trailer with snails, forcing the team to relocate to the much larger Pearl City lab and doubling their capacity. To do this, the team put the “go” in “escargot,” shipping all 8,000 snails down the highway at speeds up to 50 miles per hour.
“We had the last individuals in the world of some of these species, all in boxes, traveling over the H-3,” said David Sischo, Snail Extinction Prevention Program coordinator. “These snails may be small, but they are no less important than large, charismatic endangered species like monk seals.”
While native kahuli may be small, they’re also mighty, playing crucial roles across the islands’ environments. Seen as the forests’ “canary in a coal mine,” their health is often indicative of the health of the woods at large.
“Land snails are a critical component to native forest ecosystems,” Sischo said. “They glean algae, fungus and bacteria from leaf surfaces. They’re out here cleaning the forest. They’re eating dead and decaying leaves that are turning over nutrients, so they are really important for nutrient cycling in our forest ecosystems.”
Hawai‘i’s kahuli also hold great cultural significance. Hawaiian folklore tells of snails singing stories through whistles, chirps and peeps, mirroring Polynesian mele.
“In Hawaiian tradition, they represent voice — they are known as the voice of the forest,” Sischo said. “They represent the ability to pass on your geneaology and your history through voice. They’re critical, precious public trust resources that we are caring for and making sure that they persist far into the future.”
While introduced mollusks like the giant African snail are commonly found feasting on residents’ gardens, Sischo emphasized that native kahuli are beneficial to the environment and should not be confused with their invasive relatives.
“Our native snails do not eat plants,” he said. “We have no single snail that eats living plants. They are all beneficial for the forest. A lot of people think we’re saving those pest species in your yard, and that’s not the case. These snails are beautiful, they’re diverse — they don’t exist anywhere else in the world, and they’re important for our native forest ecosystems.”
On Feb. 23, Gov. Josh Green issued a proclamation declaring 2023 the Year of the Kahuli, stressing both their importance within Hawai‘i’s ecosystem and the need to protect them from extinction. While such a task won’t be easy, Sischo hopes the snails’ upgraded home can help bring them back to their true home — the wild.
“The state and all of our partners across the islands have realized that these animals don’t have much time left. It’s now or never,” he said.
”We have to intervene in their extinction or say goodbye. I think, collectively, we’ve decided to not say goodbye. We’re keeping them around. They deserve to be recognized, just as all of our critically imperiled species do. They are important for our islands. They don’t exist anywhere else. They’re treasures. They’re true treasures.”
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Jackson Healy, reporter, can be reached at 808-647-4966 or jhealy@thegardenisland.com.
