Chester Zoo
The snails were marked with ‘colour coded’ identification dots before being released
More than 1,300 pea-sized, critically endangered snails that were bred in a zoo have been set free to wander (very slowly) on a remote Atlantic island.
The release brings two species of Desertas Island land snails back to the wild. Prior to this they were believed to be extinct – neither species had been spotted for a century.
When a team of conservationists found a small population surviving on the rocky cliffs of Deserta Grande island, close to Madeira, they mounted a rescue effort.
The snails were brought to zoos in the UK and France, including Chester Zoo, where a home was created for them in a converted shipping container.
Chester Zoo
A newly hatched snail at Chester Zoo sits on a five pence coin
The tiny molluscs are native to the windswept, mountainous island of Deserta Grande, just south-east of Madeira. Habitat there has been destroyed by rats, mice and goats that were brought to the island by humans.
It was thought that all these invasive predators had eaten the tiny snails to extinction. Then a series of conservation expeditions – between 2012 and 2
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