Reproduction
Even though Partula are hermaphrodites--- possess the reproductive organs of both sexes--- impregnation is only successful when cross-fertilization occurs when two snails mate. Both snails will intertwine then inseminate one another. After mating, both individuals may be capable of producing young. Snails are ready to reproduce when they are around one year old.

The remaining species of Partula in the wild tend to congregate in small groupings on the undersides of the leaves of several tropical plants, to feed and mate. The young snails are ready to begin eating the same food as the adults immediately.

The "stomach foot"
Many people feel a snail is just a slug with a "home." In many ways the two are related, most notably by their unique method of locomotion. Snails and slugs both belong to the class Gastropoda, which is Greek for "stomach-foot." Gastropods are essentially a large stomach moving around on a single foot, which is much of their body. The muscles in the foot move in waves from the front of the foot to the back, propelling the snail across a surface aided by cilia, small, hairlike structures covering the bottom of the foot. If you put a snail on a piece of glass and observe it from underneath, you can easily see this motion.

Woodland Park Zoo has a small breeding population of Partula nodosa housed behind the scenes in Bug World. Other participating North American zoos are Cincinnati Zoo, Akron Zoo, Detroit Zoo and Saint Louis Zoo. The Partula breeding program is the only Species Survival Plan (SSP) for invertebrates administered by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the accrediting body for more than 200 zoos nationwide.

Woodland Park Zoo is helping Partula by participating in the SSP and is also contributes funds to the Partula Field Program Consortium, a group of U.S. and European zoos that provide funding for ongoing field surveys on Tahiti.

When the French Polynesian government allowed the importation of African land snails (Achatina fulica) as a food source, it indirectly spelled doom for many Partula species. When the African land snails began eating local crops, the rosy wolf snail (Euglandina rosea) a predatory snail native to the southeastern U.S., was brought to the island to control it. But the predator snails ate the Partula snails instead of the African snail. By 1987, many species of Partula snails had gone extinct on Tahiti and nearby Moorea.

Fortunately, a limited number of Partula snails survive in zoos. A number of zoos, including Woodland Park, are breeding them in the hope that they can be returned to their native island.

Over the last 30 years, French Polynesia has seen one of the most dramatic examples of extinction caused by an invasive species. Seventy-two percent of the Partula snail species native to the islands have gone extinct as a result of the introduced wolf snail. Unfortunately, the wolf snail was not confined to Tahiti. It spread rapidly at a rate of approximately 1.5 km² per year. By 1977 it had reached Moorea and by 1992 it was present on all six Society Islands, part of French Polynesia.  The greatest loss of Partulid diversity occurred on the island of Raiatea. In a 12-year period following the introduction of the wolf snail in 1986, all 33 native Partula species on Raiatea disappeared in the wild. Just four of Raiatea’s Partula species remain alive in captivity. It is possible that the only species in the genus Samoana (S. attenuata), another species of tree snail, has also disappeared.

* Woodland Park Zoo uses the status designations assigned by IUCN, the World Conservation Union , among other organizations. IUCN lists this snail species as "Extinct," however since we have live Partula snails in our zoo, we use the designation "Extinct in the Wild." )