Mussel Project

If you come to the Kansas City Zoo’s Africa exhibit this summer to see the two new giraffe, rhino calf, ride the Sky Safari and see many other animals from the boat, you may pass an important conservation project and not even realize it.

In 2007 a mussel propagation project was begun near the Boathouse in the African Market. In addition to the Kansas City Zoo, this project involves experts from the Missouri Department of Conservation, US Fish and Wildlife Services and Missouri State University.

The original goal of the project was to put mussels in the young juvenile stage of development into a floating upweller system commonly called a “flupsy” to see if they would survive and grow.  Two of the four original species had previously only been found in rivers. Individual specimens were identified and each was photographed every other week. The photos were analyzed at the Missouri State University lab along with weekly water samples for quality analysis. Among all the research sites in the state that year utilizing the same protocols, the zoo’s site showed the best growth rate, including mussels grown in the lab. This original group of mussels was maintained on grounds from May to November and then all were returned to their original collection site.

Since the first year, the project has expanded in scope. The flupsy now looks like a floating dock. Under the surface are several buckets containing the mussels with a circulating pump nearby to ensure a constant flow of water. The mussels are now kept here year round and grown to near adult size. Identification is accomplished by laser tagging the shell.

There have been 14 different species at one time or another. We currently have two endangered species along with others that may soon join the list. Most exciting, we are helping to return some of these species back to the wild. In August 2010, 222 Pink Mucket went from the Kansas City Zoo to the Meremac River and 1179 Neosho Mucket to the Spring River in Kansas. This past May, 650 Neosho Mucket were released in the Cottonwood River near Emporia, KS.

So next time you ride the boat to see the African animals, remember that you are in the vicinity of some Endangered Species that are part of the Zoo’s conservation mission.