Giant Snail

Giant snails began to appear in the southeast United States in the 2020s. They were deemed and invasive species from Mexico and farmers took great efforts to try to eliminate them. They were unsuccessful, but after a few years it seemed that the snails began avoiding fields and instead sticking to national and state parks and other similar areas. Most people thought nothing of it since the snails were no longer bothering them.
In 2029, the Intelligence Scale was developed and in 2035 it was required that anything being studied must be tested. A malacologist took a special interest in the snails which lived in the these areas and gave them the test. They scored a shocking 6 on the scale! While not quite at human intelligence, they were well within the protected intelligence zone [4-6] and so the scientist had to pack up their work for another year until they could get the necessary permits and submit their research plan.
Upon their return they put out a wide offering of plant types and attempted to communicate with the snails using the most modern translation magic only to get no response. They did notice that the snails preferred certain plants, so they procured more and made them accessible. They carefully recorded the shell patterns until they could learn to tell them apart and so they noticed when new snails would appear. They noticed that the new snails would be 'welcomed' by the snails from the area by rubbing eye stalks.
Eventually they came to learn that the snails communicated via their viscous mucus. They could sense the message when they ran across it and would then respond. Their snails, the ones they were developing a relationship with, had told their neighbors about him.
In conjunction with the Magic Circle the researcher is now trying to docode this language.