From The Smallest Snake In The World, To Tasty Frogs, Caribbean Has Weird Wildlife

SAN JUAN — We’re celebrating the other side of Caribbean wildlife — by highlighting some of its most strangest and most distinctive animals.

From the world’s smallest snake to one of its tastiest (and sadly most endangered) frogs and a mammal known for its exceptionally large manhood, here’s a look at some of the most unusual creatures found in the region.

The Barbados threadsnake is the world’s smallest known snake. This member of the Leptotyphlopidae family is not only found on Barbados, but has been spotted on Antigua, Barbuda and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Thanks to a combination of its size and close proximity to the mainland, Trinidad has much greater biodiversity than most Caribbean islands. Notably, it is home to a wide variety of mammal species otherwise only found in South and Central America. 

Among these is the weasel-like tayra, a South American jungle dweller known locally in Trinidad as the chien bois. Decisive and intuitive, mothers are known to delay the birth of their offspring until conditions are ideal. Though primarily predators, feeding on anything from rodents to bird eggs, they’ve also been observed storing unripe plantains until they are edible. They’re also playful, they’ve been kept as pets by indigenous people.