Trinidad and Tobago
In all the lush Caribbean, no place is more exquisite than mountainous, blossoming Trinidad with its neighbor Tobago, with wildlife to match. Dazzling scarlet ibises, iridescent jacamars, streamer-tailed red-billed tropic birds, lacy-tailed mot-mots and 41 kinds of hummingbirds are but a few among more than 430 bird species recorded—more than any other islands in the Caribbean, said to be more per square mile than anyplace else in the world—of which 250 are known to breed. Because the islands are as close as seven miles (11 km) from Venezuela, many are South American.
Mammals of 108 species include howler monkeys, anteaters, and armadillos, and there are 55 kinds of reptiles, 25 amphibians—including golden tree frogs—more than 1,600 kinds of butterflies, reefs filled with diverse marine life, and equally diverse and lovely flora. Wild poinsettias are the national flower, with 1,600 other kinds of blossoming plants including spectacular trees such as immortelles, flamboyant pride of India, frangipani, pink and yellow poui, and lavender jacaranda hung with 700 kinds of orchids.
Flamingos feed using a method that is shared only by certain whales, first immersing their bills upside-down in shallow water, then sucking in and expelling water through lammellae or membranes which filter out and retain food organisms of appropriate size. Their bright plumage comes from small crustacea and algae which they ingest in saline lagoons and is lost in captivity unless they’re fed similar substances, or even vegetable dyes.
More about the Reserves in Trinidad and tobago
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