Precious escargot: the mission to return tiny snails to Pacific islands

British zoologists part of global project to release 15,000 endangered creatures vital to French Polynesia

They are some of the smallest animals on our planet, measuring from 1cm to 2cm in length. But the recent return of thousands of tiny tropical tree snails to French Polynesia represents one of the biggest reintroduction programmes ever attempted by conservationists.

More than 15,000 partula snails - bred by a total of 16 key international conservation organisations, including the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), and Edinburgh, Chester and Amsterdam zoos - have been shipped out to Polynesia over the past five years. A few weeks ago, the most recent arrivals - more than 4,000 Partula rosea and Partula varia snails - were released on the islands of Huahine and Moorea in the Society Islands. (The archipelago, which includes Tahiti and Bora Bora and covers an area of 1,600 sq km in the South Pacific, is noted for its coral-fringed lagoons and rugged mountains.)