FLORA AND WILDLIFE CURIOSITIES
Cuba is the place in the Caribbean with the largest variety and greatest quantity of endemic plants. Of more than 7000 different species, more than half are endemic.
The Palma Corcho is considered to be a living plant fossil and it can only be found in Pinar del Rio. About a thousand examples still exist and they are thought to go back to prehistoric times.
One of the largest of all species of flowers, the Solandra Grandiflora, is also a native of Cuba. It´s an unusual climbing plant with satin-textured leaves and striking yellow to white flowers. These are 6-8 inches wide and take a shape of a chalice. The petals are yellow with five purple lines and the plant usually flowers between February and May.
The mountains of the Sierra Maestra and Sagua-Baracoa ranges, in the eastern part of Cuba, are the most important areas for endemic plants in the Caribbean and it is there that more than half of the original species in Cuba are to be found.
Cuban miniatures: Cuba is home to what are considered to be three of the smallest species of animals in the world:
- the Zunzuncito or Bee Hummingbird, which is approximately 6 cm in length
- the smallest amphibian in the world, the Pygmy Frog or Sapito, wich is less than 12mm in llenght
- and the Butterfly Bat, which only weighs 2-3 gr. and measures approximately 3 cm.
These tiny creatures are unique to Cuba. By other side, the oldest species of mollusk in the world can be found in Viñales. It is the Viana Regina or Calcifolio which lives by sticking to mogotes or limestone rocks, and feeds from the fungi which covers them.
The ManjuarÃ, considered to be a living fossil, is a prehistoric fish which has survived to this day in Cuba. It has the body of the most primitive vertebrates on the planet.
