Bermuda snail once thought extinct thriving after decade of conservation

A button-sized snail once feared extinct in Bermuda is thriving after conservationists bred and released more than 100,000 of the molluscs. The greater Bermuda snail (Poecilozonites bermudensis) was found in the fossil record but believed to have vanished, until a remnant population was discovered in a damp and overgrown alleyway in Hamilton in 2014.

After a decade-long international effort by conservation scientists, the government of Bermuda and Chester zoo, where thousands of the snails were bred before being transported back to the islands, the species has been confirmed as safe from extinction. 'It’s every conservationist’s dream to help save a whole species – and that’s exactly what we’ve done,' said Tamás Papp, the invertebrates assistant team manager at Chester zoo.

At Chester zoo, keepers adapted existing snail husbandry methods to create the best conditions for P bermudensis to multiply, keeping them in specially designed pods.

Bermuda, Hamilton