Transcript: Wildlife

NARRATOR: Cuba is the giant of the Caribbean. With nearly half of the region’s landmass, the sprawling island was forged using nearly every trick in nature’s book… wet, tropical forests meet pine-cloaked mountains… and sultry wetlands give way to dry, desert coasts. But despite the island’s impressive grandeur, much of Cuba’s natural splendor plays out on a decidedly smaller stage…

Cuba is home to the world’s smallest bat, one of the smallest owls, and the smallest bird of all… a hummingbird that weighs less than a penny. The bee hummingbird is a miracle of evolution… a descendant of the dinosaurs barely two inches tall. From their treetop lookouts, they perform acrobatic aerial displays, scouting for the best blossoms to satisfy their outsized appetites. In a single day, they’ll eat half their bodyweight… in nectar and insects. The bird’s size does have its disadvantages… when competing for food, its bigger neighbor, the Cuban emerald, insists on first pick.

One of the tiniest of Cuba’s creatures lives not in the trees but on the forest floor – a frog barely half the size of its own name… Eleutherodactylus Iberia (eh-lou-thero-dack-tah-less Eee-berry-ah), the smallest frog in the northern hemisphere. Life among the leaf litter is full of constant danger… and this bite-sized frog knows he can be a tempting treat for hungry neighbors… …but not today.

Making their way down from their treetop shelters, some of the forest’s gaudiest creatures are also on the hunt. These are Cuba’s famous “painted snails,” the polymita (pah-leh-meet-ah). With eyes perched on long stalks, the polymita seek out water and lichen on the leaves of ferns and other plants. Today, something else has caught this snail’s eye…an attractive mate. Like most snails, polymita are hermaphrodites (her-maff-rah-dites), both male and female, which means anyone is a possible partner.