Why 1,329 tiny snails are being set free on a remote island

More than 1,300 pea-sized, endangered zoo-bred snails have been released to roam (very slowly) a remote Atlantic island.

This release also brings two species of wild snails to Desertas Island. Before that, they believed it was extinct – no living things have been seen for a hundred years.

When a group of conservationists found a few survivors on the rocks of the island of Deserta Grande, near Madeira, they undertook a rescue operation.

The snails were brought to zoos in the UK and France, including Chester Zoo, where they were housed in a modified shipping container.

These tiny insects come from the mountainous island of Deserta Grande, southeast of Madeira. The habitat there has been destroyed by rats, mice and goats that people brought to the island.

People thought that all these predators ate the snails to death. Then several conservation trips – between 2012 and 2017 – proved otherwise.

Conservationists found only 200 survivors on the island.

They believed that the snails were the last, so they were collected and taken into captivity.

At Chester Zoo, the conservation science team built a new home for 60 precious snails. The right food, plants and conditions were also created in the small living tanks.

1,329 baby snails, bred at the zoo, have now been tagged – using non-toxic markers and nail varnish – and returned to the wild for release.

“[It’s a] A biologist from Madeira’s Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests, Dinarte Teixeira, said: “This will help us to see and investigate where they live, their size, how many they live and how they interact with their environment. The new environment.”

A wild snail sanctuary in Bugio, a small island adjacent to the Ilhas Desertas (Desert Islands).

Bugio is a nature reserve and the destructive species have been eradicated there.

Chester Zoo’s Gerardo Garcia said the reintroduction was “an important step in the recovery process”.

“If it goes as we hope, more snails will follow next spring. It’s a great team effort that shows it’s possible to turn around a critically endangered species.”

“These snails are very important in nature [on the islands they come from],” explained Heather Prince of Chester Zoo. In addition to being food for other species in nature, he explained, the snails break down organic matter and bring nutrients to the soil.

“It helps the plants grow. It all depends on the little ones – insects and snails that are often overlooked.”