News Earth

Oh, rats — there go the snails

Introduced rodents crash a once-thriving population in Hawaii

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

Rats keep getting into paradise. And when they discover a taste for escargot, it’s an infernal problem for native populations.

PARADISE IN TROUBLE In a meadow on the Hawaiian island of Molokai (left), populations of Partulina redfieldi tree snails (right) shrank some 80 percent within two years after rats discovered them.