Why tiny snails are being set free on remote Desertas Islands near Madeira

Conservationists released the critically endangered snails to help restore a remote island habitat.

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The release brings two species of Desertas Island land snails back to the wild. Prior to this they were believed to be extinct - neither species had been spotted for a century.

When a team of conservationists found a small population surviving on the rocky cliffs of Deserta Grande island, close to Madeira, they mounted a rescue effort.

The snails were brought to zoos in the UK and France, including Chester Zoo, where a home was created for them in a converted shipping container.

The tiny molluscs are native to the windswept, mountainous island of Deserta Grande, just south-east of Madeira. Habitat there has been destroyed by rats, mice and goats that were brought to the island by humans.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gxqep4zk3o

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