Critically Endangered Snails Reintroduced to Remote Atlantic Island After 100 Years

Over 1,300 Desertas Island land snails, once thought extinct, are released on Bugio Island following a groundbreaking conservation effort.

Two species of Desertas Island land snails, believed extinct for a century, were rediscovered in small populations between 2012 and 2017 on Deserta Grande in the Madeira Archipelago.
Conservationists brought fewer than 200 surviving snails to zoos in the UK and France, including Chester Zoo, to establish a breeding program to save the species.
Chester Zoo successfully bred over 1,300 snails in captivity, marking the first time these species have been bred under human care.
The snails were reintroduced to Bugio Island, a protected nature reserve free of invasive predators like rats, mice, and goats, which had previously devastated their habitat.
Each snail was marked with identification dots to allow researchers to monitor their survival, growth, and adaptation in the wild, with plans to release more snails in the future if the effort proves successful.