A COLONY of endemic Bermuda snails was airlifted to the London Zoo last month in a desperate attempt to save them from extinction.

The , or Bermuda land snail, is thought to be the sole survivor of a once diverse range of endemics researched by renowned palaeontologist Stephen J. Gould.

The colony of 56 was flown to the zoo so experts can study how they live in a hope that the information will help preserve them on their return to Bermuda.

"If all goes well, we will learn a lot about them," said Dr. Wolfgang Sterrer, curator of the Natural History Museum at the Bermuda Aquarium Museum & Zoo (BAMZ).

"We hope to learn what they're eating, when they reproduce and how, whether they are night active or active during the day ? all these things we don't know. We may even find out why they're dying out so quickly."

According to Dr. Sterrer, it is possible that as few as 100 of the tiny creatures ? only eight millimetres in size ? remain today.

"Really, they are very precious," he explained. "Endemics are species that have evolved on the island. They're not found anywhere else in the world. They, more than anything else, define Bermuda's uniqueness. So this is why (the snails) are really worth preserving and caring about."

This was especially interesting, said Dr. Sterrer, as it was believed to be the only genus absolutely unique to Bermuda. So plentiful were they that residents ? who considered them as pests ? would shovel the snails by the hundreds to remove them from their properties.

Three species were alive during the last century. By the 1960s, Dr. Gould could find only two ? twenty years later one, and in subsequent years, none at all. When BAMZ realised just how critical the levels were, they decided to do something before it was too late.

"Two summers ago, we asked Alex Lines, one of our summer interns to go out and see if he could find them," said Dr. Sterrer. "Lo and behold, Alex unearthed a few colonies of that little snail, along the South Shore mainly ? the last surviving species of that genus."

A search last summer unearthed even fewer of the snails.

"In other words, even the last remaining species was going down fast," Dr. Sterrer explained. While his organisation does not know the reason for the snail's rapid decline, the major suspects are introduced species of ants and snails, brought to the island to control pests.

Through his contacts, Dr. Sterrer was able to find Paul Pearce-Kelly, Curator of Invertebrates at the London Zoo, who "realised that this was an emergency case and agreed to take them on".

When Alex returned from his studies in Europe for Christmas, he was sent on a second collecting expedition and accompanied the colony to London on his return to school last month.

So far, the results are good.

According to Dr. Pearce-Kelly: "Although early days, results to date have been encouraging, with the newly arrived snails appearing to be settling into their new surroundings of the Invertebrate Conservation Unit.

"The Zoo's veterinary pathology department is currently clarifying the snail's digestive micro-organism profiles (via snail excrement samples) to help ensure that the snails retain their essential food digesting protozoa and remain in a healthy condition for future reintroduction to their island home."

The idea behind sending them, Dr. Sterrer added, was not only to keep the snails alive and happy but to discover a method of breeding them.

"If that goes well, we have a colony of living snails. Even if all of Bermuda's snails should die out tomorrow, there are some there as a breeding stock."

In the coming weeks, he added, there were plans to relocate more to the Aquarium, follow their habits and growth, and conduct a comparison study with the development of those at the London Zoo.

"They're pretty little things. They have a very pretty flame pattern and are often seen on baygrape leaves in moist areas not too far from the shore. This summer we hope to do another survey done to discover if they've retreated from the areas they occupied two years ago ? we don't know whether (Hurricane Fabian) damaged them.

"Our interest is that they're an important part of Bermuda's natural heritage, and so many of our endemics have already disappeared. (On their return), we may very well then re-introduce them to managed islands such as Nonsuch Island, so they can live in the wild again."