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 Vicky Meretsky Photo by Raphael de Peyer, Best Friends Santuary |
Once on the projected site at Best Friends Sanctuary, a home for abandoned or abused animals, Meretsky found that more than 1,000 of the 3/4-inch snails with conical, amber-colored shells had gotten there before her, despite the fact that they move only about one centimeter per hour. She also located a neighboring snail community on land owned by the Bureau of Land Management.
"It was fairly unexpected," said Meretsky in an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune. "It gives us another population in a new location, and that's always a good thing."
The snails, whose species dates back two million years, were first discovered in 1910 in Kanab Canyon. Later, about 100,000 amber-shells also were located three miles away on private property in Three Lakes Canyon. In 1991, when the owner of Three Lakes proposed building a recreational vehicle park that would destroy the invertebrates, the Fish and Wildlife Service declared them an endangered species.
During the listing process, ambershells were found in Vasey's Paradise in the Grand Canyon, but researchers couldn't locate them again in Kanab Canyon, and they were considered to be extinct there.
Meretsky believes the snails always existed in the wetlands surrounding Kanab Creek.
"If you look in the spring or late in the fall, they're dormant," she said. "If you misunderstand the habitat and look in too dry a place or too wet a place, you're not going to find them."
Read Heather May's Salt Lake Tribune story in the Aug. 8 issue. The Tribune (you may register free) is on line at:
To discover more about the ambershells' home at Best Friends Sanctuary, visit Web site:
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