BUENOS AIRES, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Extinct in the wild, Argentina's unique self-cloning Apipe snail survives only at a wildlife haven in the country's capital Buenos Aires.

Called Ecopark, the former city zoo-turned-conservation center carries out the task of protecting and breeding some endangered native species.

Run by the Buenos Aires Environment Secretariat, Ecopark has launched various fauna protection schemes, including creating a Wild Animal Genetic Resources Bank with more than 7,400 samples from 550 specimens, belonging to 98 different species of wildlife.

Two of the park's top programs aim to conserve the Valcheta frog and the Apipe snail, "two endemic species in critical danger of extinction. In fact, the Apipe snail is already completely extinct in the wild," Ecopark's Wildlife Conservation and Management Manager Tomas Sciolla told Xinhua.

"Both species are only found in Argentina and only in very particular waterways," he said.

"All species have a role to play in the ecosystem where they evolved," he added. "We often don't fully understand that role, but it is important to realize that each one fulfills a function that cannot be replaced."

Protecting such species is not only good for the environment, but potentially beneficial to the life on earth, given their singular traits, Sciolla noted.

Apipe snails, for example, "are all female. They reproduce through something called parthenogenesis. In a way, you can say they are all clones of themselves. It is a unique species in the world and it is important that we try to preserve it," said Sciolla.

The snail's natural habitat in northeast Argentina's Parana River was destroyed during the construction of the Yacireta dam, so it now survives only at the park.

Ecopark was created after city authorities proposed transforming "the old zoo into a center for the conservation and rescue of native species" several years ago, said Sciolla.

It features diagnostic laboratories, a biotechnology center, a breeding program and an animal hospital on an 18-hectare site in the Palermo district in northern Buenos Aires.

"We have more than 13 conservation programs, especially to recover animals that are endangered around the country and reintroduce them into their ecosystems," Sciolla said.