From extinct to thriving: chester zoo’s decade-long effort saves bermuda’s button-sized snail

In a remarkable conservation success story, the greater Bermuda snail has made an extraordinary comeback from the brink of extinction. Once thought to exist only in fossil records, this tiny mollusk is now thriving across Bermuda thanks to an ambitious breeding program that has released over 100,000 snails back into their native habitat.

The greater Bermuda snail (*Poecilozonites bermudensis*), no bigger than a button, was believed to have completely disappeared from the North Atlantic archipelago until 2014, when researchers made a stunning discovery. A small surviving population was found hiding in an unlikely refuge—a damp, overgrown alleyway in Hamilton, Bermuda’s capital city. This chance finding sparked a decade-long conservation effort that would ultimately save the species.

Chester Zoo played a pivotal role in the snail’s recovery, developing specialized breeding pods that allowed conservationists to successfully reproduce the tiny creatures in captivity. The controlled environment provided the perfect conditions for the snails to multiply, enabling researchers to build up a substantial population for reintroduction efforts.

The project represents a significant victory for conservation biology, demonstrating how dedicated efforts can bring species back from what appears to be certain extinction. The success of the greater Bermuda snail program offers hope for other critically endangered species and highlights the important role that zoos and research institutions play in preserving biodiversity. Today, these button-sized survivors are once again part of Bermuda’s ecosystem, a living testament to the power of conservation action.