Dominica

América del Norte

113

Documented species

Parks and reserves

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Dominica is known as the nature island because it keeps a far higher proportion of forest than the rest of the Lesser Antilles, thanks to an extremely rugged volcanic relief that made plantation agriculture difficult. It has nine potentially active volcanoes, more rivers than there are days in the year according to the local saying, and in Morne Trois Pitons national park, a World Heritage Site, lies the Boiling Lake, a flooded fumarole that is one of the largest bodies of boiling water on the planet. Its forests hold two endemic parrots, and its waters, very deep close inshore, sustain something exceptional in the Caribbean: families of sperm whales resident year-round.

The nature of Dominica

National animal: The imperial amazon, or sisserou, the endemic national bird and the only one to appear on a country's flag

Did you know?

Off the west coast of Dominica live families of sperm whales that do not migrate and that stay in the same waters generation after generation. They communicate through sequences of clicks called codas, and the island's groups use combinations of their own that work as a dialect distinct from that of other Atlantic clans. In 2023 the country announced the creation of the world's first marine reserve dedicated specifically to protecting sperm whales.

Biodiversity profile

Caribe (Antillas Menores, Islas de Barlovento, conocida como la "Isla Naturaleza del Caribe")Dato no disponible con precision agregada en fuentes verificadas consultadas; Dominica es reconocida regionalmente por conservar la mayor proporcion de bosque primario intacto de las Antillas Menores

Climate

•Tropical humedo (Af), isla volcanica muy montañosa con altisima pluviosidad

Main biomes

•Bosque tropical humedo primario (uno de los mejor conservados del Caribe oriental)
•Bosque nuboso de montaña
•Fuentes termales y lagos volcanicos (Boiling Lake)
•Bosque húmedo tropical de montaña
•Bosque elfino de altura
•Zona geotérmica y fumarola
•Cañón fluvial
•Arrecife de coral
•Mar profundo junto a la costa
•Manglar residual

Marine and coastal ecosystems

•Arrecifes de coral volcanicos, con formaciones unicas por la actividad geotermica submarina

Flagship wildlife

•Amazona imperial o sisserou (loro endemico, ave nacional, la mayor amazona del mundo)
•Amazona de cuello rojo (loro endemico)
•Chochin kalinago (endemico regional, nombrado en honor al pueblo indigena kalinago)
•Cachalote
•Amazona imperial
•Amazona cuelliroja
•Tortuga laúd
•Rana montaña
•Delfín moteado
•Colibrí caribeño
•Boa constrictor
•Tortuga carey
•Cangrejo de tierra

Notable endemic species

•Amazona imperial o sisserou (Amazona imperialis, endemica, una de las aves mas amenazadas del Caribe)
•Amazona de cuello rojo (Amazona arausiaca, endemica)
•Chochin kalinago (Troglodytes martinicensis), historicamente presente tambien en Guadalupe y Martinica, hoy restringido a Dominica
•Amazona imperial
•Amazona cuelliroja
•Rana montaña
•Serpiente ciega de Dominica

Notable threatened species

•Amazona imperial o sisserou (En Peligro, poblacion muy reducida, foco de programas de cria en cautividad internacionales)
•Amazona de cuello rojo (Vulnerable)

Notable protected areas

•Parque Nacional Morne Trois Pitons (Patrimonio Mundial, incluye el Boiling Lake)
•Parque Nacional de Morne Trois Pitons
•Lago Hirviente
•Parque Nacional de Morne Diablotin
•Reserva Marina de Soufrière-Scott's Head
•Valle de la Desolación
•Reserva de Cachalotes

Main conservation threats

•Huracanes de gran intensidad (impactos historicos severos sobre la poblacion de amazonas)
•Perdida puntual de habitat forestal
•Especies invasoras

Notable natural phenomena

•Intensa actividad geotermica y volcanica (Boiling Lake, el segundo lago hirviente mas grande del mundo)
•Dominica conserva mayor cobertura de bosque primario que la mayoria de sus vecinas del Caribe oriental

Conservation

Hurricane Maria, in 2017, devastated the island's forest and drastically reduced the imperial amazon population, of which very few birds were left and which remains under intensive monitoring. The mountain chicken, a giant amphibian that became a traditional dish, was decimated by the chytrid fungus.

Where and when to watch wildlife

Morne Diablotin at dawn for the two endemic amazons. The west coast between November and March for sperm whales. Soufrière-Scott's Head year-round for reefs and geothermal bubbles.

Sources: BirdsCaribbean - Meet the Caribbean's Six New Avian Endemics | Fatbirder - Commonwealth of Dominica | Ecosystem Profile - Caribbean Islands Biodiversity Hotspot (CEPF)

Rainforest Mountain Ocean

Parks and reserves

National Park

Morne Trois Pitons

Dominica's first national park and the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Lesser Antilles; it holds the Boiling Lake, the second largest in the world

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