Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

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tai haku
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Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by tai haku »

So I spent the last 3 years living in the Caribbean specifically in the British Virgin Islands - I got to see most of BVI's herps plus a few highlights from elsewhere in the region. BVI stuff first:

Pretty much everyone in BVI is familiar with 2 herps from around their house....

Hemidactylus sp. geckos......
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and crested anoles (Anolis cristatus cristatus).....
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we do however have 3 other anoles.....

Anolis pulchellus
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and Anolis stratulus
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Our fourth anole is the Carrot Rock Anole which has basically the smallest range of any vertebrate in the world (ie a tiny rock island called Carrot Rock). I made a foray to the island just before I left to try and get this sp (I'm not sure there are any photos of it in the online at all) but it was too rough to land so it'll have to await my eventual return as will the similarly restricted carrot rock skink. Mabouya sloanii

I did get the more widely seen skink Mabouya mabuya though.
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As well as Ameiva exsul
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The virgin islands have at least a couple of endemic sphaeros but irritatingly everyone I found was the common cotton jinner. Luckily its a beauty.
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and then of course we have our bigger lizards; the Iguanas.

Iguana sp. are not native but are introductions. They are usually found around hotels as a result and I'm not sure there is a breeding population although I have found them in very wild areas so who knows.
Iguana iguana
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(immediately after we walked on from taking this shot I saw two fins break the water and thought I was seeing a small shark, when I got a decent look at it it turned out to be the biggest bonefish I'd ever seen (and frankly probably one of the biggest bonefish anyone has ever seen - naturally I had no rod with me))

When I posted this specimen before the crash Jeff L suggested it may not be a melanistic I. iguana but might be a species from down island which will soon be split....
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Of course the true BVI iguana is the largest lizard in the Americas, Cyclura pinguis, the stout iguana. Here's one in the Anegada headstart centre.
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On Anegada the presence of humans, cats, dogs and what have you makes them quite skittish so no photos of a wild Anegadan (I saw a couple always booking it down a hole). On Guana, where the only people are eco-friendly tourists and staff (who occasionally sneak them a melon ball or two from the breakfast buffet) the iguanas play ball a bit more....

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wild bred youngster.

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wild bred youngster up a tree. they don't tend to do this on Anegada cos there aren't enough trees for them to use them hence I include a rubbish photo for zoological interest's sake.

Some adults.....
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and a monster male......
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Not sure if this video will embed (if not go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/deep-blue/ ... 646481391/).....
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More Cyclura to come.....

BVI of course has snakes, both small and slightly less small.
Small first - Arrhyton exiguum:
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Alsophis puertoricensis gets quite long. Its mildly venomous apparently and can and does knock off baby Cyclura. It will also try to hood up when threatened. On cat free Guana these are everywhere

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even in the trees
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on Tortola they are far rarer due to cats and mongooses but every now and again the postman leaves a present on your doorstep....
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We also have an Epicrates - the VI Boa. Very rare....
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We also have a blind snake I never found (and I did try - its supposed to be dead common but only on the other side of the island so I couldn't turn it up in my yard like I did with the others) and an Amphisbaeana which I desperately wanted to see but never did.

Next up Chelonia - on land we have wild red footed tortoises Geochelone carbonaria but they are very rare (these are from a captive trio at the botanic gardens)
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Fossils suggest that like Galapagos, the Masacarenes and various other island groups the Caribbean once had huge giant tortoises. Accordingly (and also because they are supercool) some of the private islands also have these guys running around......
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that's right:
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no standing freshwater = no native freshwater turtles but we do have a couple of restricted populations of these guys so for completeness sake....
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Of course we have much cooler turtles than that.....

Greens.....
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hawksbills....
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and leatherbacks. Sadly no leatherback photos. Notwithstanding my living on a nesting beach for 3 years I never got lucky. I did see a couple from boats but never with a camera. Sadly earlier this year all of BVI got to see close-up photos of a leatherback. I hope terrible things happen to the person who did this: http://www2.bviplatinum.com/news.php?mo ... 1273747341

I never saw any loggerheads though I'm sure we get the odd one. We do however have some native anurans.
Eleutherodactylus coqui
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Eleutherodactylus antillensis
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maybe Eleutherodactylus schwartzii
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we also have invasive cuban tree frogs....

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Luckily we don't have cane toads but St. Kitts does....
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Hereendeth the BVI herps (and St Kitt's herps). More to come from Cayman and DR plus the non-herp BVI stuff.
tai haku
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by tai haku »

oops forgot a USVI herp - St Croix has an endemic anole; Anolis acutus:
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tai haku
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by tai haku »

Grand Cayman - I never made it to little Cayman for Cyclura nubila
Grand Cayman has one very famous herp - Cyclura lewisii - the Cayman Blue iguana. Go to the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Garden reasonably early in the morning and you should do OK:
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they are properly blue!

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I love the black feet....

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....and the attitude....

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They have endemic Anolis too (A. conspersus)
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and also Alsophis - this is Alsophis caymanenis which eats baby iguanas amongst other things. This was an absolute monster, bigger than anything my local herper friend had seen before
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I was there on business so I didn't want to risk a musking in the morning ahead of afternoon meetings hence the crappy shots....


Cayman has a population of Iguana iguana too (a very dense one)
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I know you're thinking that is a pretty interesting looking pool that iguana is walking round right?

right? well even if you're not it is. If you want to see one of Cayman's other endemics the best spot is the Marriott pool bar on 7 mile beach.
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The rather nice water feature above is densely populated with the Hickatee or caymanian hispaniolan slider Trachemys decussata
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all herping should involve Mojitos poolside!
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Jeff Lemm
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by Jeff Lemm »

Great post Tai!! Even us who study the pinguis rarely get to see adults. They commonly use the Loblolly trees also. Good to see the lewisi in there too!
tai haku
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by tai haku »

On our way to our target area of DR we stayed in a rather ropey "ecolodge" and by ecolodge they mean overpriced corrugated tin shack. Still it produced a silverlining in the form of Aristellegier lar - the biggest gecko I've ever seen. This would give any tokay a run for its money but it was quite shy....

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Our target was the saltwater lake Lago Enriquillo and the islands therein. The lake is famous for huge populations of American crocs and Caribbean flamingos but was in flood so we saw neither. Here's a floridian amcroc....
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and a BVI Caribbean flamingo to make up for it.
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The lake does however have a couple of other attractions. Rhinoceros iguanas are common on both its shores and its islands....
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these two males duelled whilst we lunched.
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far more beautiful though is the other Cyclura species present - Ricord's iguana. We only saw 2, the first ran away down a hole so seeing this one emerge from the bush with its awesome walking gait and red eyes and realising it wasn't a rhino is probably my favourite herping moment of all.....
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it gave us the once over and then stole some mango peel.

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2 Cyclura species side by side in the wild, it doesn't get much better than this......
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I may come back tomorrow and add some non-herp stuff but for now that's it. DR has some of the most beautiful of all Anolis but alas I didn't get shots of those nor did I find the big Epicrates species present (though I gave it a bit of a go).
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Jeff Lemm
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by Jeff Lemm »

Cool, LE is one of my favorite places in the caribbean. Great pic of both Cyclura together.
tai haku
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by tai haku »

Jeff Lemm wrote:Great post Tai!! Even us who study the pinguis rarely get to see adults. They commonly use the Loblolly trees also. Good to see the lewisi in there too!
Thought you may enjoy this Jeff. Interesting regarding the pinguis - they are so tame on Guana (and for that matter all the other Cyclura I've come across have been reasonably tame) that it makes me wonder why the big ones on Anegada are so very skittish. The last one I saw on Anegada was a big male which ran across the top of the limestone to its burrow so heavily I could track it through the scrub by the sound of 8-12 inch rocks being thrown out of the way by it!
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Jeff Lemm
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by Jeff Lemm »

Yep, dealing with dogs on Anegada - gotta be skittish!
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Crimson King
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by Crimson King »

Great series! Your underwater pix are very nice!
:Mark
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Mike VanValen
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by Mike VanValen »

Great to see some Caribbean stuff. We don't see enough of it around here.
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-EJ
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by -EJ »

The grey tortoise is an Aldabra. It's most likely in heaven in that neck of the woods. It is also most likely a pet that was imported. It's interesting that it's the first I've seen from the Carribean.

btw... you're photography is fantastic.
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Ryan Sikola
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by Ryan Sikola »

Alsophis!
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evilzard
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by evilzard »

tai haku wrote:
Jeff Lemm wrote:Great post Tai!! Even us who study the pinguis rarely get to see adults. They commonly use the Loblolly trees also. Good to see the lewisi in there too!
Thought you may enjoy this Jeff. Interesting regarding the pinguis - they are so tame on Guana (and for that matter all the other Cyclura I've come across have been reasonably tame) that it makes me wonder why the big ones on Anegada are so very skittish. The last one I saw on Anegada was a big male which ran across the top of the limestone to its burrow so heavily I could track it through the scrub by the sound of 8-12 inch rocks being thrown out of the way by it!
Awesome post and photos. There are really only a few adult iguanas on Guana that are tame, a couple around the hotel and one or two near the dump. All the other adults I saw while hiking in the forests were extremely skittish.

-Jack
tai haku
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by tai haku »

-EJ wrote:The grey tortoise is an Aldabra. It's most likely in heaven in that neck of the woods. It is also most likely a pet that was imported. It's interesting that it's the first I've seen from the Carribean.
EJ - that's right. The idea is to use them as a proxy grazer to replace the extinct species as a biological control. I'll update on this point soon with more detail.

Jack - maybe I was just so massively chillaxed as a result of how awesome a weekend on Guana is that the forest iguanas chilled out too? 8-) :D With one exception (an animal we surprised as a result of heavy cover) they were always very relaxed when I was there. Obviously the ones that beg for melon balls by the restaurant are totally tame.
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-EJ
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Re: Carribean classics - DUW, Virgin islands, Cayman and DR

Post by -EJ »

Please do. This is a very favorite species of mine. I've been keeping them for about 12 years now.

That you menton it... I seem to remember the species being used as such in other projects but more in their more historical range.
tai haku wrote:
-EJ wrote:The grey tortoise is an Aldabra. It's most likely in heaven in that neck of the woods. It is also most likely a pet that was imported. It's interesting that it's the first I've seen from the Carribean.
EJ - that's right. The idea is to use them as a proxy grazer to replace the extinct species as a biological control. I'll update on this point soon with more detail.

Jack - maybe I was just so massively chillaxed as a result of how awesome a weekend on Guana is that the forest iguanas chilled out too? 8-) :D With one exception (an animal we surprised as a result of heavy cover) they were always very relaxed when I was there. Obviously the ones that beg for melon balls by the restaurant are totally tame.
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