UK Zoos Build 'Ark' for Rarest Snail in One Lake — SkimNews
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- Myxas glutinosa survives in a single UK location — Llyn Tegid in Eryri National Park, Wales — after being driven to extinction across England by polluted water and habitat loss; the fingertip-sized mollusc feeds on algae and is considered an indicator of healthy freshwater.
- Ian Hughes, a conservationist in Llanarth, Ceredigion, has bred the snails in a backyard greenhouse under a Natural Resources Wales licence since 2014, achieving what he called a "life-defining" breakthrough when eggs were spotted in the tank after four months — the first time anyone had knowingly seen them.
- BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums) is coordinating transfers to five wildlife parks — Wingham Wildlife Park, Askham Bryan, Longleat, Dudley and Chester zoos — with Wingham assistant curator Samantha Eden personally collecting 24 snails for a new three-pond breeding facility.
- The project is backed by a £60m UK government scheme to protect rare species, with the Freshwater Habitats Trust searching for suitable water bodies where the snails could eventually be released.
- Nicky Needham, BIAZA's head of species management, said ongoing research into the snails' ecology, husbandry and genetics could enable wild reintroductions within three years if the captive populations prove robust enough.
- Eryri National Park assistant warden Simon Jones said the park is "really proud" to host the unique species but warned climate change is heightening the threat to the snail and its habitat.
Why it matters: Because glutinous snails are an indicator species for healthy freshwater, their near-total loss in England signals broader ecosystem degradation; the £60m government scheme and BIAZA's five-zoo breeding network give the species its first credible path back to English waters within an estimated three years — a rare reintroduction chance for a mollusc that doesn't even have a published egg description yet.
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