For 1,500 years, Mexico’s Mixtec people have extracted ink from the rare purpura snail to dye yarn. But they fear the species – and their rich tradition – may soon be lost for ever

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/16/mexico-snail-milkers-mixtec-dye-purpura-aoe

#Mexico #Mixtec #snail #indigenous

‘We sometimes milked 3,000 snails a day!’: the dying art of milking molluscs

For 1,500 years, Mexico’s Mixtec people have extracted ink from the rare purpura snail to dye yarn. But they fear the species – and their rich tradition – may soon be lost for ever

The Guardian