Bermuda Snail Saved: 100,000 Released After 2014 Discovery

When conservationists discovered fewer than 200 greater Bermuda land snails huddled in a narrow concrete alley in Hamilton in 2014, they found the last survivors of a species nearly lost forever. That chance discovery sparked a decade-long rescue mission that just succeeded beyond anyone's expectations.

The button-sized snails once crawled across Bermuda's islands but vanished from the wild after an invasive predator called the rosy wolfsnail arrived 70 years ago. Brought in to control pest snails, the predators ignored their intended targets and feasted on the tiny native snails instead.

Scientists feared the worst in the early 1990s when searches turned up only recently dead shells. The 2014 discovery changed everything.

Conservationists carefully transported the surviving snails across the Atlantic to England's Chester Zoo. There, teams created special breeding pods with perfect conditions for the tiny creatures to thrive and reproduce.

The results stunned even the most optimistic researchers. Since 2019, more than 100,000 captive-bred snails have been released into protected woodland habitats across Bermuda.

A new population study confirms six thriving colonies now exist on the islands, with snails breeding successfully in the wild. "It's every conservationist's dream to help save a whole species, and that's exactly what we've done," says Tamás Papp, who helped lead the effort at Chester Zoo.

The Ripple Effect

Saving these tiny snails means more than preserving one species. The greater Bermuda land snail plays a vital role in ecosystem health, consuming live and decaying vegetation while recycling nutrients back into the soil. They also provide food for larger animals, making them essential links in Bermuda's food chain.

The success offers a proven blueprint for similar conservation programs worldwide. Researchers are publishing detailed protocols that other captive breeding efforts can follow.

The announcement came on Reverse the Red Day, a global celebration of conservation victories. While the snails remain critically endangered, they're no longer on the brink of disappearing forever.

One challenge remains: finding long-term solutions to keep invasive predators away from the recovering colonies. But for now, conservationists are celebrating a species pulled back from the edge of extinction, one tiny snail at a time.