Tiny hairy snails thought lost are now having babies at Taronga Zoo

The Norfolk Island hairy snail is about the size of a pinky fingernail, wears fine golden hairs on its shell, and lives in just one small reserve. Australian Museum snail expert Dr Isabel Hyman once feared it was extinct — then found a population holding on. With invasive ants closing in and numbers falling, 30 snails were collected in August and taken to Taronga Zoo Sydney in an emergency rescue led with the Taronga Conservation Society. A month on, senior keeper Tarryn Williams Clow says they have settled in and started giving birth to live young — the first hopeful step toward one day releasing them back home.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: institutional program