“Last Friday I celebrated the International Day for Biological Diversity by taking a bumpy boat ride to Nonsuch Island to feed some snails. Sounds like a crazy thing to do, but the snails in question are lesser Bermuda land snails (Poecilozonites circumfirmatus). This species has the dubious distinction of have the conservation status ‘Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct in the Wild)’. We believe it is extinct in the wild, since no live snails have been found in about 16 years, despite lots of searching. The population on Nonsuch Island was introduced in February this year. The snails were bred in England at the Chester Zoo and flown to Bermuda, where they were placed in cages at three spots on Nonsuch Island. Nonsuch offers particularly good habitat for land snails, since it does not have the predators that are found on the mainland. You can read more about the introduction of endangered land snails to Nonsuch Island here.
Above is a photo of two lesser Bermuda land snails from Friday. They are around the size of a green pea.
While I was closing one of the cages, I heard a rustling in the dry bay grape leaves and looked up to see I was being watched by a large Bermuda Skink. It didn’t run off even after I moved to get the camera. Eventually I went back to what I was doing and I heard it wander off.
Never a dull moment on Nonsuch.”
Alison Copeland, M.Sc | Biodiversity Officer | Department of Environment and Natural Resources