(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Daily Bucket - terrestrial critters of Little Cayman [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-26 Sister Islands Rock Iguana Being an island, there’s a limited number of terrestrial animal species on Little Cayman. Even so, most of them stayed out of my way (though I’ll admit I wasn’t out in the heat much to look for them). Here are a few encounters we had. Reptiles are in short supply where I live in the Pacific Northwest so it’s cool to see so many in the Caribbean. The most impressive reptile is the Sister Islands Rock Iguana (Cyclura nubila caymanensis) a critically endangered endemic subspecies of the Cuban Rock Iguana native only to Little Cayman and its neighboring Sister Island Cayman Brac. Their numbers have declined due to free roaming dogs, feral cats, and getting hit by cars (even though the speed limit is 25mph that’s too fast for an iguana to get out of the way). There’s also concern about nonnative Green iguanas (spread in the Cayman Islands as pets) that have been found on Little Cayman, with at least one report of cross breeding with a Rock Iguana. So far, Green iguana numbers are currently kept low by local Caymanian volunteers in an effort to avoid the explosive growth common on other islands. The local Caymanians have a fondness for the iguanas and in fact the one restaurant in the village serving supper is called The Hungry Iguana. The iguanas wander around the village as well as the dry thickets and woods that make up most of the island. This old fellow in the village has had 9 lives This one was in a thicket There are gazillions of lizards, mostly anoles. We had to dodge them walking from our cabin to the eating area of the place we stay. As best I could tell the majority are Brown Anoles (Anolis sagrei sagrei), which are native to the Sister Islands and nearby Cuba. Brown Brown There’s another anole on the island, the Green (Anolis maynardi), also native and endemic. Since Browns are only shades of brown, this one might have been a Green: Possible Green Little Cayman anole? One or more Curly tailed lizards darted by a few times. Endemic Lesser Caymans Curly tailed lizard, Leiocephalus carinatus granti, We did see a snake once while eating lunch outside but I didn’t have my camera. There are two snake species on the island large enough for it to be, the Cayman Islands Dwarf Boa (Tropidophis caymanensis parkeri) which is primarily nocturnal and the Little Cayman Racer (Alsophis cantherigerus ruttyi) which is diurnal. Based on their habits we’d assume we saw the racer but it was mottled black and white, more like the dwarf boa coloring. A mystery. We did see dried snake remains by the side of the road though: Portion of snake The coloring looks like a racer. The bones are amazing. Among invertebrates, the most abundant of course are insects and spiders. The less said about mosquitoes and no see ums the better. But amongst the larger inverts, crabs are ubiquitous, especially the Caribbean Hermit crabs. They are everywhere, including on the walkways of the place we stay, to the extent we had to shuffle along to avoid stepping on them. Hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus) in a West Indian Top Snail shell Hermit crabs are scavengers They are especially fond of the West Indian top snail shells (on which matching red coralline algae often grows) for a home but not always: Other crabs were far more elusive: Black Land crab hole — Hole is under a cotton bush (native plant there) Ghost crab hole on the beach — Most snails are aquatic in the Cayman Islands but there are a few terrestrial species. The most common is the Peanut snail, which grazes on surfaces of plants, fence posts and such. Peanut snails (Cerion pannosum). There is an extremely rare endemic relative of the Peanut snail found only in one area of Little Cayman (Cerion nanus). Last local land critter to report from our stay on the island: This is one of the two elderly cats who mostly lie around but are happy to get scritchies if you’re passing by. 🦀 THE DAILY BUCKET IS A NATURE REFUGE. WE AMICABLY DISCUSS ANIMALS, WEATHER, CLIMATE, SOIL, PLANTS, WATERS AND NOTE LIFE’S PATTERNS. WE INVITE YOU TO NOTE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING AROUND YOU IN YOUR OWN PART OF THE WORLD, AND TO SHARE YOUR OBSERVATIONS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PURPOSE AND HISTORY OF THE DAILY BUCKET FEATURE, CHECK OUT THIS DIARY: DAILY BUCKET PHENOLOGY: 11 YEARS OF RECORDING EARTH'S VITAL SIGNS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS 🦠 Overcast but warming into the 50s in the PNW islands today. Temps are starting to hint at getting closer to normal. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/26/2165377/-The-Daily-Bucket-terrestrial-critters-of-Little-Cayman Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/