The Honolulu Zoo updated its Keiki Zoo Barn this month, showcasing a species of Oʻahu snail believed to be extinct in the wild. They were last seen in 2018.
Thanks to a University of Hawaiʻi professor and one of his students, the conservation work to save Hawaiʻi's native snails is continuing.
Michael Hadfield is a biologist at the Kewalo Marine Lab. While he works Monday to Friday with marine life, on the weekends, he spends time in the forests collecting snails.
The student mentioned was Hadfield's last Ph.D. candidate and is now with the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Wildlife biologist David Sischo is toiling to give endangered snails a fighting chance to survive in a changing landscape with so many predators and threats to their native forests.
Sischo runs the state’s Snail Extinction Prevention Program, and said there is more good news to come — the state is planning to release some of the rare and endangered snails it has been rearing in the lab back out into Hawaiʻi's forests.
Sischo and Hadfield talked to HPR last week at the opening of the zoo’s newest exhibit space focusing on native snails.
This story aired on The Conversation on Dec. 3, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
