Because of their isolation, islands make for natural experiments in evolution, with many hosting species that are found nowhere else on the planet. The phenomenon is known as endemism, and Cuba is a prime example.
[MUSIC]
[The American Museum of Natural History logo appears. Text appears on screen. The outline of the island Cuba appears on screen. Icons of flowers and lizards appear on the outline.]
NARRATOR: Did you know that half of all the plants and a third of all the vertebrates found in Cuba exist nowhere else in the world?
[Icons of flowers and lizards disappear from a map of the world. Cuba splashes down in the middle of the ocean. A magnifying glass appears on top of it.]
NARRATOR: Islands like Cuba are amazing places to see evolution in action.
[The magnifying glass and the outline of Cuba disappear.]
NARRATOR: In the past, it was home to giant sloths and flightless owls,
[The outline of a giant sloth and the outline of a large owl appear. Next to the giant sloth, a line is drawn and reads “200 pounds”. Next to the owl, a line reads “3.2 feet”.]
NARRATOR: and today it's where you'll find some of the world's tiniest frogs, and the smallest bird on the planet.
[The giant sloth and the owl disappear and are replaced by a hummingbird and a frog. Next to the hummingbird, a line reads “2.4 inches”. Next to the frog, a line reads “0.39 inches”.]
NARRATOR: Find out more in Cuba, a new exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History.
[The poster for the ¡Cuba! Exhibition appears, and reads “American Museum of Natural History. Cuba. November 21, 2016 – August 13, 2017. Central Park West at 79th Street, New York City. AMNH.org”]
[The card is replaced by credits.
¡Cuba! was developed in collaboration with the Cuban National Museum of Natural History.
Major funding for Cuba has been provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund.
Significant support for ¡Cuba! has been provided by the Ford Foundation.
Generous support for ¡Cuba! has been provided by the Dalio Ocean Initiative.
Proudly supported by JetBlue.
Design/Motion
AMNH / L. Stevens
Images / Graphics
AMNH / L. Stevens
AMNH / D. Finnin
Music
“Dance-Hall Cuba,” by Alessandro Rizzo (PRS) & Elliot Ireland (PRS)/Warner Chappell Production Music.
© American Museum of Natural History]
[END MUSIC]
On Cuba, as on other islands, endemic plants and animals can evolve in parallel and play a major role in one another’s life cycles. A 2012 study found that Cuba’s bee hummingbirds—the smallest birds in the world, which live only on the island—visited just 10 species of flowers looking for a nectar meal. Of these plants, nine are either native or endemic to the island.
While islands face many of the same conservation challenges as the mainland, the effects can be more pronounced due to the sharp boundaries of life there. Island species are also particularly vulnerable to the threat of invasive species. These relatively isolated ecosystems aren’t used to new arrivals, and their introduction can spell disaster for native species.
Creative Commons/P. Asman and J. Lenoble
Dr. Gilberto Silva Taboada, curator emeritus at the Cuban National Museum of Natural History, says the giant catfish Clarias gariepinus is a particularly destructive example of invasive species, and not just in the Zapata wetlands where they were introduced.
“This large fish can survive outside water for days,” Silva Taboada says. “It regularly climbs onto dry land, wandering and feeding on all kinds of endemic animals, even inside caves.”
Learn more about amazing Cuban wildlife in the special exhibition ¡Cuba!, now open to the public and free for Members.
Parts of this story originally appeared in the Summer 2016 issue of Rotunda, the Member magazine.