Island Diversity: Cuba's Amazing Animals in Museum Spotlight

From lush wetlands to dense networks of caves, the island of Cuba is dwelling to various environments which can be teeming with life, internet hosting many uncommon species discovered nowhere else on Earth.

And quite a few these distinctive animals take middle stage within the new exhibit "¡Cuba!" opening Nov. 21 on the American Museum of Pure Historical past (AMNH) in New York Metropolis.

"¡Cuba!" showcases the nation's tradition in addition to its pure wonders. It walks guests via bustling metropolis streets, after which pivots into dioramas that includes Cuba's native animals: fierce crocodiles, silvery fish and colourful parakeets and water birds. [Giant Owls and Painted Snails: Incredible Creatures from Cuba (Photos)]

four,000 islands

Cuba is the Caribbean's greatest island nation, however referring to it as a single island is a little bit of a misnomer — it represents an unlimited archipelago of greater than four,000 islands and keys. The massive island's most iconic environments — forests, wetlands, caves and reefs — have been reconstructed for the exhibit particularly to focus on the biodiversity they maintain, co-curator Ana Luz Porzecanski, director of the Middle for Biodiversity and Conservation at AMNH, advised Stay Science.

"Cuba harbors the biggest forests within the Caribbean, the biggest marine reserve within the Caribbean, among the healthiest reefs, and in addition the biggest wetlands within the Caribbean," Porzecanski stated.

"Cuba additionally has a really intensive cave system. They not solely have a novel biota, however in addition they protect plenty of the previous, and supply insights into what Cuba was like hundreds of years in the past," she added.

Huge and small

Fossils from the area inform of a land as soon as roamed by monumental floor sloths weighing a whole bunch of kilos and dominated by a large and stubby-winged owl that stood practically three ft (practically a meter) tall and was thought-about the highest floor predator, in keeping with co-curator Christopher Raxworthy, curator-in-charge for the AMNH Division of Herpetology.

In island environments, after nonswimming species arrive and are unable to depart, they adapt over time to occupy sure ecological niches, and might grow to be extremely specialised. Cuba had no giant floor carnivores, reminiscent of the large cats, bears or wolves native to North America. This created a possibility for the owl Ornimegalonyx to evolve into the biggest owl that ever existed, and to grow to be Cuba's deadliest floor predator, Raxworthy stated.

Cuba's extinct big owl, Ornimegalonyx, was the biggest owl that ever lived.

Credit score: Copyright AMNH D. Finnin

Mighty Ornimegalonyx possible turned extinct between eight,000 and 6,000 years in the past, however one other native — a large rodent — nonetheless roams the island. Often known as the hutia, it weighs as much as 19 kilos (9 kilograms) and measures as much as 35 inches (89 centimeters) from nostril to tail tip.

Cuba helps unusually tiny animals, too, such because the bee hummingbird — the smallest chook on Earth — which is in regards to the dimension of a bumblebee and weighs lower than a U.S. penny.

"Miniaturization and gigantism in Cuba give us a platform to elucidate about evolution," Raxworthy stated. "It is an incredible place to speak about species in island environments and about how weird they will get."

Certainly one of a sort

Uncommon dimension is not the one path that Cuba's animals adopted as they developed to outlive of their remoted ecosystems. Some developed chemical weapons, such because the long-nosed mammal often called the almiquí, which produces poisonous saliva that it delivers via venomous bites, and the Cuban tree frog, which emits poisonous mucus. Stay specimens of the Cuban tree frog and several other different species of amphibians and reptiles are on show within the exhibit. [See Photos of Cute and Colorful Frogs from an AMNH Exhibit]

And it's extremely possible that as-yet undiscovered species in Cuba's protected areas can be simply as astonishing because the species already identified to science, Porzecanski stated.

"Whenever you have a look at the amphibians of Cuba, 95 p.c of them are endemic — discovered solely in Cuba — which tells you that just about any new frog you uncover will possible be distinctive on a worldwide stage," she stated.

Local weather change and human exercise pose ongoing threats to delicate ecosystems like Cuba's, however rigorous nationwide efforts to mitigate the consequences of a warming world and to designate protected areas may guarantee a extra hopeful future for the island's native crops and wildlife.

"Cuba takes local weather change adaptation and mitigation and preparation very critically," Porzecanski advised Stay Science. "They know their coasts are prone to change, they know that the frequency of hurricanes and storms might change, and they're getting ready for that."

"There is a very lively program to preserve several types of habitats — there at the moment are 200 protected areas," Raxworthy added. "I am optimistic. They're at a degree the place they will preserve populations, and the long run seems very vibrant."

The "¡Cuba!" exhibit will likely be open from Nov. 21 via Aug. 13, 2017.

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