Animals of Trinidad & Tobago

The bull shark is one of the few sharks able to thrive in fresh water as easily as in the sea. Stocky, blunt-snouted and highly tolerant of low salinity,…

The Burrowing False Coral, locally called the Rouleau, is an ancient, primitive snake of the family Aniliidae and the only member of that family in T&T.…

The Burrowing Snake is a small, blind, cylindrical snake of the family Typhlopidae found in Trinidad. Like the related Ground Puppy, it spends virtually…

The Carib Grackle is one of the most familiar and abundant birds in Trinidad and Tobago, a glossy, intelligent blackbird found wherever humans settle:…

The Caribbean Flamingo is the most intensely coloured of all flamingos, a tall wading bird whose deep rose-pink to vermilion plumage is unmistakable…

The Caribbean spiny lobster is the familiar reef lobster of the warm western Atlantic, instantly recognised by its long, whip-like antennae and the lack…

The Cascabel Dormillon, also called the Cook's Tree Boa or Dormillon, is a slender, strongly arboreal non-venomous boa found on both Trinidad and Tobago.…

The Cascadura is an armoured catfish woven into the folklore and cuisine of Trinidad. A Trinidadian saying holds that those who eat the Cascadura will, no…

The Cat-Eyed Snake, locally called the False Mapepire, is a nocturnal arboreal colubrid named for its large, distinctively cat-like elliptical pupils,…

The Cattle Egret is one of the most successful birds in the world and one of the most familiar sights in Trinidad and Tobago's agricultural landscape: a…

The Channel-billed Toucan is the resident toucan of Trinidad's forests, an unmistakable black bird with a vivid orange-yellow throat and a huge ridged…

The Checkerbelly is a slender, arboreal colubrid found in forest habitats on Trinidad. Named for the distinctive black and white or black and cream…

The Cloudy Snake is an arboreal, nocturnal dipsadine colubrid found on both Trinidad and Tobago. Like the Snail-Eating Snake (Dipsas variegata), it has…

The collared peccary, called quenk in Trinidad, is a sociable, pig-like hoofed mammal that travels the forest in noisy herds. Named for the pale band of…

The Collared Snake is a small, distinctively marked colubrid found on both Trinidad and Tobago. Named for the pale collar that separates its dark head…

The Common Black Hawk is a broad-winged, coastal raptor of Trinidad's mangroves and estuaries, where it has a striking specialty: it feeds heavily on land…

The Common Coral Snake is one of two coral snake species found in Trinidad, distinguished by its striking pattern of single black rings outlined in narrow…

Known throughout Trinidad and Tobago as the manicou, the Common Opossum is a cat-sized marsupial and one of the islands' most familiar nocturnal mammals.…

The Common Potoo is one of the most cryptic and otherworldly birds in Trinidad and Tobago, a nocturnal hunter of the forest edge whose cryptic bark-like…

The common vampire bat is a small, leaf-nosed bat unique among mammals for living entirely on blood. Highly social and surprisingly cooperative, it is…

The Copper-rumped Hummingbird is the most abundant and familiar hummingbird of Trinidad and Tobago, a small, intensely territorial jewel that is a daily…

The Crab-eating Raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus) is Trinidad's only raccoon, a wetland-loving relative of the familiar North American raccoon. It haunts the…

The Crested Oropendola, known across Trinidad and Tobago as the cornbird or yellowtail, is a large, glossy black icterid famous for the swaying colonies…

The Crimson-crested Woodpecker is one of the largest and most striking woodpeckers found in Trinidad, instantly recognisable by its flaming red head and…

The Doctor Snake, also called the Red Snake, is a striking colubrid endemic to Tobago. It is the island's most distinctive snake species, with a vivid red…

The Dos Cocorite is a large, iridescent arboreal colubrid found in Trinidad. Its French Creole name refers to the cocorite palm (Bactris minor), in which…

The False Coral is a nocturnal, rear-fanged colubrid found on both Trinidad and Tobago. Its vivid red, black, and white banding mimics the pattern of true…

The False Coral Snake is a rare colubrid found in Trinidad, known from only a single recorded specimen in the Boos (2001) catalogue. Its bold banding…

Erythrolamprus bizona is a second False Coral Snake species recorded from Trinidad, again known from a single specimen in Boos (2001). Like its congener…

The Fiddle-String Snake, known locally as the Mapepire Corde Violon (mapepire violin string), is one of the most morphologically extreme snakes in T&T.…

The Giant Ameiva, known locally as the zandolie or ground lizard, is a large, fast-moving lizard often seen darting across sunlit paths, gardens, and…

The Giant Centipede (Scolopendra gigantea), also called the Amazonian giant centipede, is among the largest centipedes on Earth, reaching lengths of up to…

The golden tegu, known in Trinidad as the matte or salipenter, is a large, powerfully built ground lizard banded in black and gold. It is one of the…

The Golden Tree Frog is one of Trinidad's most remarkable endemics: a tiny, brilliantly coloured frog that lives almost exclusively inside the rainwater…

The Golden-headed Manakin is one of the most visually striking small birds of Trinidad's forest interior, the male a jewel-like combination of jet black…

The Gray Lora is a rare, slender arboreal colubrid closely related to the common Lora (Leptophis ahaetulla), known from only a few specimens in Trinidad.…

The Gray-necked Wood Rail is a large, boldly coloured rail of mangroves, freshwater swamps, and forest-edge wetlands in Trinidad, more often heard than…

The Great Egret is the largest all-white heron in Trinidad and Tobago and one of the most elegant waterbirds found across both islands, a tall, slender,…

The Great Kiskadee is arguably the most familiar bird in Trinidad and Tobago, a loud, bold, brilliantly coloured flycatcher whose name is an onomatopoeia…

The Green Iguana (Iguana iguana) is the largest lizard native to Trinidad and Tobago and one of the most familiar reptiles on the islands, often seen…

The Green Sea Turtle is one of the most ecologically important marine reptiles in the Caribbean, acting as the primary grazer of seagrass beds that…

The Green-backed Heron is a small, compact, and often secretive heron found throughout Trinidad and Tobago in any habitat with water and dense marginal…

The Ground Puppy is a tiny, thread-like, burrowing snake belonging to the family Leptotyphlopidae, one of the most ancient snake lineages on Earth. Barely…

The Hawksbill Sea Turtle is one of the Caribbean's most iconic marine reptiles, recognisable by its narrow hawk-like beak and striking amber and brown…

The High-Woods Coral is a small, attractively coloured colubrid found in forested habitats on both Trinidad and Tobago. Despite its name, it is not a true…

The Horse Whip is an extremely slender, arboreal colubrid that achieves near-perfect camouflage among dry twigs and vines. Found on both Trinidad and…

The King Vulture is the most spectacular raptor in Trinidad, a large, commanding bird whose striking black-and-white plumage, brightly coloured bare head,…

The Large Coral Snake is the bigger of Trinidad's two coral snake species, distinguished by its pattern of black rings arranged in triads: groups of…

The Leatherback Sea Turtle is the largest reptile on Earth and one of the most ancient; its lineage stretches back over 100 million years. Trinidad's…

The Limpkin is a large, distinctive wading bird of freshwater swamps and marshes and the sole member of its family, occupying an evolutionary position…

The Little Blue Heron is a medium-sized heron with one of the most distinctive plumage sequences of any bird in T&T: juveniles are entirely white and can…

The Loggerhead Sea Turtle is the largest hard-shelled sea turtle in the world, immediately recognisable by its massive, block-like head and powerful jaws…

The Long-tailed Machete Savane is a large, fast-moving diurnal colubrid found in Trinidad. A close relative of the common Machete Savane (Chironius…

The Lora, or Parrot Snake, is one of the most vividly coloured snakes in T&T, its emerald green scales flashing with iridescent blue and bronze in…

The lowland paca, known throughout Trinidad as the lappe, is a large, secretive rainforest rodent and one of the biggest in the Americas. Its rich brown…

The Macajuel is the most widely known and most frequently encountered large snake in Trinidad and Tobago, found on both islands and in almost every…

The Machete Couesse is a large, fast-moving diurnal colubrid and one of the most commonly encountered large snakes in Trinidad. Found throughout the…

The Tobago Machete Couesse is an endemic subspecies of Mastigodryas boddaerti found only on Tobago, where it is the island's largest non-venomous snake.…

The Machete Savane is a large, fast-moving diurnal colubrid and one of the most frequently encountered snakes in Trinidad. Non-venomous and entirely…

The Magnificent Frigatebird is a large, unmistakable seabird seen soaring over the coasts of both Trinidad and Tobago. With its long, angular wings,…

The Mapepire Balsain is Trinidad's most medically significant venomous snake and the species responsible for the overwhelming majority of snakebite…

The Mapepire de Fe is a very slender, laterally compressed, arboreal colubrid found in Trinidad's forest understorey. Despite the alarming local name…

The Mapepire Mangue is a semi-aquatic colubrid of Trinidad's freshwater marshes, swamps, and rice fields. Its local name, "mapepire mangue" (swamp…

The Mapepire Zanana is the largest venomous snake in Trinidad and the longest pit viper species in the world, capable of reaching 2 m in the wild. Found…

The Mata Mata Turtle (Chelus fimbriata) is one of the most bizarre freshwater turtles in the world, instantly recognised by its broad, flattened,…

Despite its name, the Melon-headed Whale is a member of the oceanic dolphin family, a sleek dark cetacean of deep tropical seas. It travels in some of the…

The Neotropic Cormorant is a sleek, dark waterbird found throughout Trinidad's freshwater and estuarine wetlands, a skilled pursuit diver that hunts fish…

The Neotropical River Otter, known locally in Trinidad as the 'water dog', is a shy, semi-aquatic carnivore of the island's clean, fast-flowing rivers and…

Known locally as the tatou (or tattoo), the Nine-banded Armadillo is a nocturnal, armoured mammal found throughout the forests and scrublands of both…

The Ocelot is Trinidad's only native wild cat and the island's largest wild felid. A nocturnal, solitary predator of forest, wetland and scrub, it is a…

The Oilbird is one of the most extraordinary birds in the world and one of Trinidad's most celebrated wildlife spectacles. The only nocturnal,…

The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle is the smallest and most abundant sea turtle in the world, yet its Vulnerable status is a reminder of how quickly fortune can…

The Orange-winged Parrot is the common large green amazon parrot of Trinidad and Tobago, named for the splash of orange in the wing that flashes in…

The Ornate Hawk-Eagle is one of the most spectacular raptors of T&T's rainforests, a powerful, crested eagle of the interior forest that combines bold…

The osprey, often called the fish hawk, is a large, fish-eating bird of prey found on every continent except Antarctica. Built entirely around catching…

The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal on Earth, capable of reaching speeds exceeding 320 km/h in a hunting stoop, and one of the most widely…

The Pink-toed Tarantula is one of Trinidad's most striking invertebrates: a large, arboreal spider that spends its entire life in the forest canopy,…

The Purple Gallinule is one of the most strikingly coloured waterbirds of Trinidad and Tobago's freshwater wetlands. Known locally as the blue waterfowl,…

The Purple Honeycreeper is one of the most vivid birds of Trinidad and Tobago's forest canopy, the male dressed in deep violet-purple plumage with…

The Rainbow Boa is one of Trinidad and Tobago's most visually striking snakes, named for the iridescent, spectral sheen produced by its tightly stacked…

The Ratonel is a nocturnal, rear-fanged colubrid found on both Trinidad and Tobago. Its local name derives from the French Creole for rat, reflecting its…

The Red Brocket Deer is the only wild deer in Trinidad and Tobago, known locally simply as 'deer'. A small, russet-coated forest cervid, it is the most…

The Red Siskin is one of the most endangered finches in the world, a small but brilliantly coloured bird whose scarlet-and-black plumage and sweet song…

The Red-billed Tropicbird is one of the most elegant seabirds to be found in T&T waters, a brilliantly white bird with a vivid red bill, black wing…

Known locally as the morrocoy, the Red-footed Tortoise is a medium-sized land tortoise of Trinidad and Tobago's forests and savannas, recognised by the…

The Red-rumped Agouti, known locally simply as the 'agouti' or 'goat', is a medium-sized ground-dwelling rodent of forest floors across both Trinidad and…

The Red-tailed Squirrel is a medium-sized tree squirrel of northern South America and the southern Caribbean, and it is the only native tree squirrel…

The Ringed Kingfisher is the largest kingfisher in Trinidad and Tobago and one of the largest in the entire New World, a robust, loud, and conspicuous…

Robinson's Mouse Opossum is a tiny, big-eyed nocturnal marsupial, no larger than a mouse, that lives in the drier woodlands of Trinidad and Tobago. Unlike…

The Roseate Spoonbill is one of T&T's most visually spectacular waterbirds, combining vivid rose-pink plumage with the extraordinary spatula-shaped bill…

The Ruby-topaz Hummingbird is one of the most dazzlingly coloured birds in Trinidad and Tobago, the male combining a fiery ruby-red crown, brilliant…

The Rufescent Tiger Heron is a large, strikingly patterned, and notoriously secretive heron of Trinidad's forested rivers and shaded freshwater margins,…

The Rufous-tailed Jacamar is one of the jewels of Trinidad and Tobago's forest edges and sunlit clearings, a strikingly beautiful bird that resembles a…

The Rufous-vented Chachalaca, known throughout Tobago as the Cocrico, is one of the island's most recognisable birds and shares the honour of being a…

The Savanna Hawk is a tall, long-legged raptor of open country, a warm rufous bird often seen perched on a fence post or stalking through grass on foot.…

The Scarlet Ibis is the National Bird of Trinidad and Tobago and one of the most recognisable wetland birds on Earth. Each evening, thousands return from…

The Scarlet Macaw is one of the largest and most flamboyant parrots in the Americas, a metre-long bird draped in vivid red, yellow and blue plumage. Its…

Known locally as the galap, the Scorpion Mud Turtle is Trinidad's small freshwater turtle of ponds, marshes, and slow streams. It is a hardy survivor:…

The Silky Anteater is the smallest of the world's anteaters, a secretive, golden-furred mammal that lives high in the forest canopy. In Trinidad it is…

The Silver-beaked Tanager is one of the most distinctive and abundant tanagers of Trinidad's forest edges, gardens, and secondary growth, the male a deep,…

The Small Indian Mongoose is a slender, ferret-like carnivore that has become one of Trinidad and Tobago's most familiar mammals, often glimpsed darting…

The Smooth Machete Savane is a third Chironius species recorded from Trinidad, known from a single doubtful specimen in Boos (2001). Its presence on the…

The Smooth-billed Ani is one of the most conspicuous and socially remarkable birds of Trinidad and Tobago's open country, a glossy black cuckoo that lives…

The Snail Kite is one of the most highly specialised raptors in the world, a medium-sized hawk that feeds almost exclusively on freshwater apple snails,…

The Snail-Eating Snake is a highly specialised arboreal colubrid found in Trinidad. As its name suggests, it has evolved to feed almost exclusively on…

The Southern Lapwing is a large, boldly patterned plover and one of the most vocal and conspicuous birds of open grasslands, savannas, and wetland margins…

The southern stingray is a large, diamond-shaped ray of warm western Atlantic shallows, perfectly built for life on the seabed. Its flattened body and…

The Southern Tamandua is a tree-climbing 'lesser anteater', a tan-and-black mammal with a long tubular snout, no teeth, and a prehensile tail it uses like…

The Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus) is the larger of Trinidad's two crocodilians and a familiar resident of the island's freshwater swamps, rivers,…

The Squirrel Cuckoo is one of the most elegant and agile birds of Trinidad's forests, a large, richly coloured cuckoo that moves through the canopy and…

The Striped Swamp Snake is a small to medium semi-aquatic colubrid found in freshwater and wetland habitats in Trinidad. The Trinidad population…

The Swallow-tailed Kite is among the most spectacular raptors to visit Trinidad and Tobago, a bird of arresting elegance combining crisp black-and-white…

Known locally as the zangee, the swamp eel is not a true eel at all but an air-breathing fish wonderfully adapted to swampy, oxygen-poor water. Its long,…

The Tayra is a large, agile member of the weasel family (Mustelidae) found in the forests of Trinidad, where it is known locally as 'chien bois' (forest…

The Three-Lined Snake is a small, fossorial colubrid found on both Trinidad and Tobago. Named for the three pale stripes running along its otherwise dark…

The Tigre is one of the largest non-venomous snakes in Trinidad and Tobago and one of the most dramatically patterned, a bold jet-black and bright-yellow…

The Tobago One-Lined Snake is a small, burrowing colubrid endemic to Tobago. Known only from a very limited specimen record, it is distinguished from the…

The Trinidad Burrowing Snake is a typhlopid blind snake found on both Trinidad and Tobago, one of only a handful of snake species shared across both…

The Trinidad Chevron Tarantula is a large arboreal spider endemic to the island of Trinidad, named for the dark V-shaped chevron markings on its abdomen.…

The Trinidad Howler Monkey is the island's largest primate and the author of one of its most distinctive sounds, a deep, resonant roar that carries up to…

The Trinidad Piping-guan, known locally as the 'Pawi', is a large turkey-like forest bird found nowhere else on Earth but Trinidad. A member of the guan…

The Trinidad Thick-tailed Scorpion (Tityus trinitatis) is the most medically important scorpion in Trinidad. A member of the family Buthidae, it is a…

The Trinidad White-fronted Capuchin is a highly intelligent, socially complex primate found only in Trinidad's forests, the island's sole endemic monkey…

The Tropical Kingbird is one of the most abundant and familiar birds in Trinidad and Tobago, a boldly confident flycatcher that perches prominently on…

The Troupial is the largest oriole in South America and one of the most striking birds found in Trinidad and Tobago, combining vivid orange-and-black…

The Tufted Coquette is one of the smallest and most ornate hummingbirds in the world and a prized sighting for birdwatchers visiting Trinidad. The male…

The Turkey Vulture is the most abundant and widespread of T&T's three vulture species and one of the most familiar large birds in the skies over both…

The Water Coral is a secretive, highly aquatic colubrid found in freshwater habitats in Trinidad. Named for the banded pattern that superficially…

The Water Mapepire is a semi-aquatic, non-venomous colubrid found throughout Trinidad's rivers, swamps, and marshes. Its local name reflects a superficial…

The Wattled Jacana is the characteristic waterbird of Trinidad's freshwater wetlands, instantly recognisable by its chestnut-and-black plumage, vivid…

The West Indian Manatee is one of the largest freshwater and coastal mammals in the Americas: a slow-moving, completely herbivorous giant that grazes on…

The White Bellbird holds the record for the loudest bird call on Earth, a single, ear-splitting metallic clang delivered by the male at close range that…

The White-bearded Manakin is one of the great showmen of Trinidad's forest understorey, a tiny black-and-white bird whose elaborate competitive courtship…

The White-necked Jacobin is one of the most striking hummingbirds of T&T's forests, the male a bold combination of deep iridescent blue head and breast,…

The White-tailed Sabrewing is one of the largest and most spectacular hummingbirds in the Caribbean, and a flagship species for conservation in Tobago.…

The Yellow Oriole is a brilliantly coloured resident of Trinidad and Tobago, a medium-sized icterid combining vivid canary-yellow plumage with a sharp…

The Yellow-Belly Puffing Snake is one of the largest non-venomous snakes in Trinidad, a powerful arboreal colubrid named for its vivid sulphur-yellow…

The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron is a stocky, handsome wading bird of T&T's mangroves, coastal swamps, and freshwater wetlands, named for the pale…

The Yellow-footed Tortoise, known locally in Trinidad as the morrocoy, is the largest tortoise on the South American mainland and one of the largest land…

The Yellow-Head Ground Puppy is an extremely rare burrowing snake known in Trinidad from a single specimen, making it one of the least documented reptiles…

The Yellow-headed Caracara is a medium-sized, opportunistic falcon relative found throughout Trinidad and Tobago in open country, agricultural land, and…

The Yellow-Tail Cribo is a large, powerful, diurnal colubrid found on both Trinidad and Tobago. Named for the vivid yellow, orange, or red colouration of…