A tiny, rare snail that lives in only one lake in the UK is getting help from zoos to survive. The glutinous snail was once common across the country, but water pollution and habitat loss drove it to extinction in England. Today, its last remaining wild home in the UK is Llyn Tegid, a lake in Eryri National Park in Wales.
To protect the species, conservationist Ian Hughes began collecting and studying the snails in 2014. He built concrete shelters in the lake and set up breeding tanks in his garden greenhouse, eventually raising about 2,000 snails. The creature gets its name from a gooey layer of soft tissue that covers its delicate shell. It feeds on algae and acts as an indicator species, helping scientists measure whether water in lakes and rivers is clean.
Now, several zoos and wildlife parks across England are taking snails from Hughes to build backup groups, called "ark populations." Experts hope these new breeding facilities will protect the species from risks like climate change. The project is supported by a £60 million government scheme for rare species, and conservationists hope to release snails back into wild waters within three years.