Animals of Trinidad & Tobago

The Black-bellied Whistling Duck is a distinctive, long-legged, tree-perching duck found on freshwater wetlands across Trinidad and Tobago, named for both…

The Black-collared Hawk is a striking, specialist fish-eating raptor of freshwater and coastal wetlands in Trinidad, immediately identifiable by its vivid…

The Black-crowned Night Heron is the most widespread heron in the world and one of T&T's characteristic wetland birds, a stocky, short-necked heron with a…

The Black-Headed Snake is one of the smallest snakes in T&T and is unmistakable at close range: its glossy jet-black head contrasts sharply with a pale…

The Black-necked Stilt is an unmistakable wader of shallow wetlands and salt pans in Trinidad and Tobago, its extraordinarily long, thin pink legs, the…

The Black-throated Mango is a striking, medium-sized hummingbird found across Trinidad and Tobago, the male showing a bold black stripe down the throat…

The Black-whiskered Vireo is a plain, persistently vocal songbird of Trinidad's mangroves and coastal woodland, named for a thin, dark malar streak…

The Blue and Gold Macaw (Ara ararauna), also called the Blue-and-yellow Macaw, is a large, unmistakable Neotropical parrot with brilliant blue upperparts…

The Blue Dacnis is a small, vividly coloured songbird of Trinidad's forest canopy, the male a brilliant turquoise-blue with a black throat and back, and…

The Blue Land Crab is a large, burrowing land crab of Caribbean coasts, named for the slate-blue to grey-blue colour of mature males. In Trinidad and…

The Blue-backed Manakin is a jewel of Tobago's forest understorey and one of the most remarkable birds in the Caribbean, celebrated for its extraordinary…

The Blue-black Grassquit is a tiny, glossy songbird of open grassland across Trinidad and Tobago, the male famous for a distinctive, repeated "jump…

The Blue-chinned Sapphire is a small, brilliantly iridescent hummingbird of Trinidad's forest edge and clearings, the male's glittering green plumage and…

The Blue-crowned Motmot is one of Trinidad and Tobago's most beautiful and distinctive forest birds, instantly recognisable by its elaborate racket-tipped…

The Blue-gray Tanager is one of the most common and instantly recognisable birds in Trinidad and Tobago, a medium-sized tanager of soft powder-blue and…

The Blue-headed Parrot is a compact, stocky parrot of Trinidad's forests, easily distinguished from the island's Amazon parrots by its deep cobalt-blue…

The Blue-winged Teal is a small, fast-flying dabbling duck that visits Trinidad and Tobago's wetlands as a non-breeding migrant from North America, one of…

The Boat-billed Flycatcher closely resembles the familiar Great Kiskadee but is distinguished by its notably heavier, broader bill and quieter, more…

The Boat-billed Heron is one of the most bizarre and distinctive herons in the Americas, immediately recognisable by its enormous, broad, scooped bill…

The Bonefish is a silvery, torpedo-shaped fish of Trinidad and Tobago's shallow coastal flats, prized by anglers worldwide for its speed and wariness, and…

The Bottlenose Dolphin is the most familiar and frequently sighted cetacean in Trinidad and Tobago's waters, recognised the world over for its…

The Brazilian Tree Porcupine is a large, nocturnal, tree-dwelling rodent found in the forests of Trinidad. Equipped with a long muscular prehensile tail…

The Broad-winged Hawk is a compact, forest-dwelling buteo that has one of the most dramatic migrations of any raptor in the Americas, with millions of…

The Brown Booby is a large, powerful seabird recorded off Tobago, plunge-diving from height into offshore waters after fish, and closely related to the…

The Brown Noddy is a dark, uniformly sooty-brown tern of Tobago's offshore waters and islets, distinguished from the pale terns it associates with by its…

The Brown Pelican is one of the most recognisable seabirds along the coasts of Trinidad and Tobago, a large dark waterbird with an enormous bill and an…

The Buff-throated Woodcreeper is a well-camouflaged, bark-climbing bird of Trinidad and Tobago's forests, moving in short hops up tree trunks and along…

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…

Known throughout Trinidad and Tobago as the crapaud, the Cane Toad is a large, warty, toxic-skinned amphibian and one of the most familiar creatures of…

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 Coot is a dark, duck-like waterbird of freshwater ponds, lagoons, and marshes across Trinidad and Tobago, distinguished from the closely…

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 Reef Shark is the most commonly sighted large shark on Caribbean coral reefs, an apex predator whose presence helps maintain balanced reef…

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…

Chapman's Swift is a fast-flying aerial insectivore of Trinidad's skies, one of several similar small swifts on the island best distinguished from close…

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 Chestnut Woodpecker is a warm rufous-brown woodpecker of Trinidad's forest interior, distinguished by its shaggy, often erected crest and a…

The Chestnut-bellied Heron, also known as the Agami Heron, is a slender, exceptionally long-billed heron of Trinidad's forested swamps, among the most…

The Chestnut-collared Swift is a striking swift of Trinidad's hill forest, males showing a bright chestnut collar around an otherwise blackish body,…

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 Cocoa Thrush is a warm, uniformly reddish-brown thrush of Trinidad's forest and shaded cocoa plantations, its name reflecting both its rich,…

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 Collared Trogon is a brilliantly coloured, quietly sedentary bird of Trinidad and Tobago's forest interior, the male's iridescent green upperparts and…

The Comb Duck is a large, striking waterfowl of Trinidad's freshwater wetlands, males distinguished by a prominent fleshy comb on top of the bill that…

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…

The Common Moorhen is a familiar dark waterbird of Trinidad and Tobago's ponds, ditches, and marshes, recognised by its bright red-and-yellow frontal…

The Common Mustached Bat is a small, highly social cave-dwelling bat of Trinidad, scientifically notable for its exceptionally refined echolocation…

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 Snook is a prized sport and food fish of Trinidad's rivers and coastal waters, easily recognised by the bold black lateral line running from…

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…

Davy's Naked-backed Bat is a small, highly social cave bat of Trinidad, named for the way its wing membranes attach along the middle of the back, giving…

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 Double-toothed Kite is a small, forest-dwelling raptor of Trinidad named for the two tooth-like notches on its upper bill. It is best known for a…

The Eared Dove is a widespread, adaptable dove of open country and agricultural land across Trinidad and Tobago, named for a small dark crescent mark…

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 Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl is a tiny, fearless owl of Trinidad's forest edge and woodland, unusual among owls for being frequently active by day, and…

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 Flying Fish is an iconic species of the waters around Tobago, capable of gliding well above the sea surface on greatly enlarged, wing-like pectoral…

The Flying Frog, so named locally for its long leaps between leaves and branches rather than true flight, is a common tree frog of ponds and wetlands…

The Fork-tailed Flycatcher is one of the most visually striking birds recorded in Trinidad, its extraordinarily long, deeply forked black tail streaming…

The Fork-tailed Palm-Swift is a tiny, slender swift closely tied to palm trees in Trinidad, nesting and roosting exclusively on the underside of dead palm…

The Four-eyed Fish is a remarkable surface-dwelling fish of Trinidad's coastal and brackish waters, its bulging, divided eyes allowing it to see…

Freshwater Shrimp of the genus Macrobrachium are common and ecologically important inhabitants of Trinidad's rivers and streams, several species…

The Fulvous Whistling Duck is a warm tawny-orange waterbird of Trinidad's freshwater wetlands, closely related to the Black-bellied and White-faced…

The Gafftopsail Catfish is a common estuarine fish of Trinidad's coastal waters, named for its tall, sail-like dorsal fin, and notable as a mouthbrooder…

The Galap is a freshwater river turtle found in Trinidad's rivers, swamps, and ponds, valued locally as bush meat and increasingly uncommon in areas of…

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 Cowbird is a large, glossy blackbird notable as a brood parasite of Trinidad's oropendolas and caciques, laying its eggs in their hanging…

The Golden Orb-weaver is a large, conspicuous spider common in Trinidad's forests and gardens, spinning an enormous, strikingly golden-toned web strong…

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 Golden-olive Woodpecker is a medium-sized, softly coloured woodpecker of Trinidad's forests, its olive-green back with a golden sheen and grey head…

The Gray Hawk is a slender, pale grey raptor of forest edge and gallery woodland, less commonly encountered in Trinidad than the ubiquitous Roadside Hawk…

The Gray Kingbird is a large, pale flycatcher of coastal and open habitats across Trinidad and Tobago, closely resembling the more widespread Tropical…

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-breasted Martin is a large, glossy swallow common over towns, villages, and open country across Trinidad and Tobago, frequently nesting in eaves,…

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 Gray-rumped Swift is a common small swift over Trinidad and Tobago's forest and forest edge, distinguished from most co-occurring swifts by a paler…

The Grayish Saltator is a stout, thick-billed songbird common in Trinidad's scrub, gardens, and forest edge, more often identified by its rich, warbling…

The Great Barracuda is a large, torpedo-shaped predator common around Trinidad and Tobago's reefs and coastal waters, easily identified by its elongated…

The Great Blue Heron is a tall, statuesque wading bird that visits Trinidad and Tobago as a non-breeding migrant from North America, standing motionless…

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 Greater Ani is a large, glossy black bird of Trinidad's swamps and riverside vegetation, notable for its cooperative breeding system in which multiple…

The Greater Bulldog Bat, or Fishing Bat, is one of only a handful of bat species in the world that catches fish, raking the surface of rivers, swamps, and…

The Greater Fruit Bat is one of the largest and most conspicuous fruit bats in Trinidad, a powerful flier often seen at dusk crossing over gardens, forest…

The Greater Spear-nosed Bat is one of the largest and most social leaf-nosed bats in the Americas, forming tight, stable harem groups in caves and hollow…

The Greater White-lined Bat is a small, dark bat marked with two crisp white lines down its back, easily observed roosting in daylight on exposed tree…

The Green Hermit is a large, long-tailed hummingbird of Trinidad's forest interior, best known for its participation in communal display grounds, or leks,…

The Green Honeycreeper is a strikingly plumaged forest canopy bird found on Trinidad, with males a vivid emerald green offset by a black hood and bright…

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 Kingfisher is the smallest and most understated of Trinidad's kingfishers, a compact, dark green bird that perches quietly over slow streams and…

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 Green-rumped Parrotlet is the smallest parrot found in Trinidad and Tobago, a diminutive, fast-flying, sociable bird of open country and gardens, its…

The Green-throated Mango is a hummingbird of Trinidad's coastal and mangrove-associated habitats, closely related to the more widespread Black-throated…

The Green-winged Teal is the smallest dabbling duck to visit Trinidad, a compact winter migrant named for the iridescent green patch on the wing, most…

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 Guabine, or wolf fish, is a powerful ambush predator of Trinidad and Tobago's rivers and swamps, tolerant of low-oxygen water where few other fish can…

The Gull-billed Tern is an unusual tern that hunts more like a gull or a kite than a typical plunge-diving tern, coursing low over marshes and fields to…

The Guppy, known locally as "millions" for its explosive breeding, is a tiny livebearing fish native to Trinidad and Tobago streams that has become one of…

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 Heliconius, or passion vine butterfly, is a slow-flying, long-lived, brightly patterned butterfly whose toxic, warning-coloured wings and complex…

The Helicopter Damselfly is one of the largest damselflies in the world, an enormous, slow-flying forest insect of Trinidad that hunts spiders directly…

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 House Wren is a small, plain, energetic songbird found around gardens, buildings, and forest edge across Trinidad and Tobago, its loud, bubbling,…

The Humpback Whale is a seasonal visitor to Trinidad and Tobago's waters, passing through on its long migration between high-latitude feeding grounds and…

The Jamaican Fruit-eating Bat is one of the most commonly encountered bats in Trinidad, a medium-sized leaf-nosed bat that shelters by day in tents it…

The King Coscorub, or leaf fish, is a small predatory fish so perfectly disguised as a dead leaf that it drifts motionless among real leaf litter until…

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 Land Hermit Crab is a common sight along Trinidad and Tobago's coastlines, a terrestrial crustacean that spends its entire adult life carrying a…

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 Large-billed Tern is a distinctive freshwater tern of Trinidad's rivers and swamps, its oversized, banana-yellow bill and bold black-and-white wing…

The Laughing Gull is the most familiar gull of Trinidad and Tobago's coastline, a noisy, opportunistic scavenger frequently seen following fishing boats,…

The Leaf-cutter Ant is one of Trinidad's most ecologically significant insects, forming massive underground colonies that farm a fungus cultivated on…

The Least Bittern is the smallest heron in the Americas, an extremely secretive marsh bird of Trinidad's reedbeds and swamp margins that relies on…

The Least Sandpiper is the smallest shorebird regularly seen in Trinidad, a tiny, brown-toned "peep" that gathers in flocks on mudflats and pond edges…

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 Lesser Scaup is a diving duck that visits Trinidad's open freshwater and brackish wetlands in the northern winter, diving well below the surface for…

The Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift is a striking, boldly patterned swift recorded in Tobago, distinguished from most other local swifts by a deeply forked…

The Lilac-tailed Parrotlet is a tiny, fast-flying parrot of Trinidad's forest canopy, its brief lilac-tinged tail visible only in good light as small,…

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 Lineated Woodpecker is a large, dramatic, red-crested woodpecker of Trinidad's forests, closely resembling the famous Pileated Woodpecker of North…

The Lionfish is a strikingly beautiful but ecologically destructive invasive predator that has spread throughout the Caribbean, including Trinidad and…

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 Little Cuckoo is a small, rufous, long-tailed cuckoo of Trinidad's wetland edges and riverside thickets, more often glimpsed slipping through dense…

The Little Hermit is the smallest hermit hummingbird recorded in Trinidad, a diminutive, warm-toned bird of dense forest understorey and secondary growth,…

The Little Yellow-shouldered Bat is a small, common fruit bat named for the patch of yellowish fur on the shoulders of breeding males. A specialist…

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 Mangrove Oyster grows in dense clusters attached to the prop roots of red mangroves in Trinidad and Tobago's coastal wetlands, forming an important…

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 Masked Duck is a small, extremely secretive diving duck of Trinidad's densely vegetated freshwater marshes, rarely seen in the open and far more often…

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 Merlin is a small, fast-flying falcon that visits Trinidad during the northern winter, having bred far to the north in Canada and the northern United…

The Morpho Butterfly is among the most spectacular insects in Trinidad and Tobago's forests, its dazzling iridescent blue wings flashing brilliantly in…

The Mottled Owl is a medium-sized, forest-dwelling owl of Trinidad, its cryptic, finely mottled brown plumage providing near-perfect camouflage against…

The Mountain Mullet is a hardy, fast-swimming fish of clear mountain streams, undertaking a life-cycle migration between rivers and the sea that makes it…

The wild Muscovy Duck is the ancestor of the familiar barnyard Muscovy kept worldwide, but the true wild form is a large, dark, forest-loving duck of…

The Nassau Grouper is a large, once-abundant reef fish now Critically Endangered across the Caribbean, including Tobago's reefs, primarily due to 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 Northern Shoveler is a distinctive dabbling duck that visits Trinidad's wetlands in the northern winter, its greatly enlarged, spatula-shaped bill…

The Northern Waterthrush is a streaky brown wood-warbler that spends the northern winter along Trinidad's wetland edges, mangroves, and streams, bobbing…

The Nurse Shark is a docile, bottom-dwelling shark commonly encountered resting in caves and under ledges around Tobago's reefs by day, becoming an active…

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 Ochre-bellied Flycatcher is a small, plain, easily overlooked bird of Trinidad's forest understorey, notable for a lekking mating system unusual among…

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-spotted Gecko is a tiny, boldly marked forest gecko found on tree trunks, buttress roots, and leaf litter across Trinidad. Unlike the…

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 Owl Butterfly is a large, striking forest butterfly of Trinidad, named for the enormous eye-like markings on the underside of its hindwings that…

The Pale-vented Pigeon is a large, richly coloured pigeon found in Tobago, a canopy-dwelling bird of forest and forest edge distinguished by a warm…

Pallas's Long-tongued Bat is a small nectar-feeding bat with an extraordinarily long, brush-tipped tongue that it uses to reach deep into tubular flowers.…

The Palm Tanager is one of the most familiar garden and roadside birds across Trinidad and Tobago, its subdued olive-grey plumage and constant chattering…

The Paradoxal Frog earns its name from a striking oddity: its tadpole grows far larger than the adult frog it eventually becomes, shrinking dramatically…

The Pauraque is Trinidad's most familiar nightjar, most often revealed at night by the twin red glow of its eyeshine caught in a flashlight or car…

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 Pied-billed Grebe is a small, stocky, expert diving waterbird found on quiet freshwater ponds across Trinidad and Tobago, more often detected by its…

The Pileated Tinamou, known locally as Caille, is a shy, ground-dwelling forest bird of Trinidad, far more often heard than seen, its clear, plaintive,…

The Pinnated Bittern is a large, cryptically patterned marsh bird of Trinidad's swamps, notoriously difficult to see as it stands motionless among tall…

The Piratic Flycatcher earns its name from a remarkable nesting strategy: rather than building its own nest, it aggressively harasses other birds,…

The Plumbeous Kite is a sleek, slate-grey raptor that arrives in Trinidad in large numbers each year to breed, filling the sky over forest and forest edge…

The Proboscis Bat is a tiny, delicately marked bat instantly recognisable by the neat, evenly spaced rows it forms while roosting in daylight on tree…

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 Queen Conch is a large marine snail prized for its meat and its glossy pink-lipped shell, historically overfished across the Caribbean to the point of…

The Queen Triggerfish is one of the most vividly coloured reef fish in Tobago's waters, named for a locking dorsal spine ("trigger") it wedges into reef…

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 Rainbow Whiptail is a fast-moving, brightly coloured lizard of Trinidad's open, sunny habitats, males flashing vivid blue-green and yellow stripes as…

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-bellied Macaw is a slender, palm-dependent macaw of Trinidad's swamp forests, closely tied to Moriche Palm groves whose fruit forms the…

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…

The Red-breasted Blackbird is a striking grassland bird of Trinidad and Tobago, the male's vivid scarlet throat and breast against an otherwise black body…

The Red-capped Cardinal is a striking, boldly patterned songbird of Trinidad's waterside vegetation, its vivid crimson-red head and throat contrasting…

The Red-crowned Woodpecker is a small, common woodpecker found in gardens, forest edge, and plantations across Trinidad, often the first woodpecker…

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-legged Honeycreeper is a small, jewel-like bird of Trinidad and Tobago's forest edge and gardens, the breeding male a striking combination of…

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-snouted Treefrog is a slender, adaptable treefrog common around Trinidad's gardens, ponds, and forest edges, recognisable by its pointed snout 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 Ring-necked Duck is a diving duck named for a subtle chestnut collar that is rarely visible in the field, making the bold white ring around its bill…

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 Royal Tern is a large, elegant seabird of Trinidad and Tobago's coastal waters, recognised by its heavy orange bill and shaggy black crest, often seen…

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 Ruddy Ground Dove is one of the smallest and most abundant doves in Trinidad and Tobago, a warm reddish-brown bird constantly seen feeding on the…

The Ruddy Quail-Dove is a shy, plump, ground-dwelling dove of Trinidad's forest floor, its rich rufous-chestnut plumage in males blending closely with…

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

The Rufous-breasted Hermit is a warm, richly coloured hummingbird of Trinidad and Tobago's forest understorey, a member of the "hermit" group that, unlike…

The Rufous-breasted Wren is a warmly coloured, vocal wren of forest understorey and dense scrub across Trinidad and Tobago, its rich reddish-brown breast…

The Rufous-browed Peppershrike is a stocky, heavy-billed songbird of Trinidad's forest edge and gardens, more often heard than seen, its loud, clear,…

The Rufous-shafted Woodstar is one of the smallest hummingbirds in Trinidad, a tiny, bee-like bird of hill forest and forest edge whose fast, darting…

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 Saffron Finch is a bright, sunny yellow bird of open country and gardens across Trinidad and Tobago, a popular cage bird in parts of its range owing…

The Sandwich Tern is a slender, crested seabird of Trinidad and Tobago's coastal waters, recognisable by its shaggy black cap and long black bill with 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 Scaled Pigeon is a large, richly coloured forest pigeon named for the neat, scale-like pattern of its neck and breast feathers, glinting with…

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…

The Scarlet Tanager is a vivid North American songbird that passes through or winters in Trinidad and Tobago on migration, the breeding male's brilliant…

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:…

Seba's Short-tailed Fruit Bat is among the most abundant and ecologically important bats in Trinidad, a small, fast-flying fruit specialist that plays an…

The Semipalmated Plover is a small, compact shorebird that visits Trinidad's mudflats and beaches in large numbers during the northern winter, having bred…

The Semipalmated Sandpiper is one of the most abundant migratory shorebirds passing through and wintering in Trinidad, gathering in large, tightly packed…

The Shiny Cowbird is a glossy blackbird and a generalist brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of a very wide range of host songbirds across…

The Short-tailed Swift is a small, fast-flying aerial insectivore commonly seen wheeling in loose flocks high over Trinidad and Tobago, spending almost…

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 Snow Goose is a rare, far-flung winter visitor to Trinidad, breeding on Arctic tundra thousands of kilometres to the north and only occasionally…

The Snowy Egret is a small, elegant, pure white heron found in wetlands and coastal waters across Trinidad and Tobago, easily recognised by its slender…

The Solitary Sandpiper is a slim, dark shorebird that, true to its name, is usually seen alone rather than in flocks, visiting Trinidad's freshwater pools…

The Sooty Grassquit is a small, dark seedeater of Trinidad's forest edge and grassy clearings, less familiar than the widespread Blue-black Grassquit but…

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 Pochard is a diving duck present in Trinidad's freshwater wetlands, one of the few South American waterfowl species with a striking red eye…

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 Spanish Mackerel is a fast-swimming coastal predator common in Trinidad and Tobago's nearshore waters, an important food fish recognised by the rows…

The Speckled Tanager is a delicately patterned canopy bird of Trinidad's forest, its pale, finely spangled plumage giving it a subtly beautiful, almost…

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 Spectacled Owl is a large, powerful forest owl of Trinidad, named for the bold white markings encircling its dark facial disc that resemble a pair of…

The Spectral Bat is the largest bat in the Americas and, despite its ominous name, is not a blood-feeder at all: it is a powerful carnivorous hunter that…

The Sperm Whale is the largest of the toothed whales and one of the deepest-diving mammals on Earth, capable of descending over a kilometre in pursuit of…

The Spinner Dolphin is named for its extraordinary aerial displays, leaping clear of the water and spinning several times along its body axis before…

Spiny Rats are common, fast-moving forest rodents of Trinidad named for the stiff, bristle-like guard hairs mixed into their coat, and notable for having…

The Spotted Sandpiper is a small, constantly teetering shorebird that visits Trinidad's shorelines and riverbanks during the northern winter, easily…

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 Streak Lizard is a small, common day-gecko of Trinidad's yards and forest edge, named for the bold pale stripe running down the side of the body in…

The Streaked Flycatcher is a boldly patterned bird of Tobago's forest edge, its heavily streaked underparts setting it apart from the plainer-bellied…

The Striped Cuckoo is a shy, ground-loving brood parasite of Trinidad's savannas and scrubland, more often heard than seen, its clear, whistled, rising…

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

The Surinam Toad is a bizarre, entirely aquatic, flattened frog best known for its extraordinary reproduction: fertilised eggs become embedded in pits on…

The Swallow Tanager is an unusually shaped tanager with a broad, flattened bill and a habit of catching insects on the wing like a swallow, its brilliant…

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 Tarpon is a spectacular, powerful game fish famed for its acrobatic leaps when hooked, found in Trinidad's coastal waters, estuaries, and even…

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 Tent-making Bat is a small, strikingly striped fruit bat best known for engineering its own shelter, biting through the ribs of large palm and…

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 Tree Runner is a spiny, well-camouflaged lizard of Trinidad's forest, almost always found head-down on a large tree trunk, its rough, bark-like scales…

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 Euphonia is a small, compact songbird found across Trinidad and Tobago, the male a striking combination of glossy blue-black upperparts and…

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 Stream Frog is a small, dark, diurnal frog found along fast-flowing forest streams in the Northern Range, one of a group of poison-frog…

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 Tropical Mockingbird is a bold, vocal, grey-and-white bird of open country and gardens across Trinidad and Tobago, well known for its habit of…

The Tropical Pewee is a small, plain flycatcher common at forest edge and clearings in Trinidad, easily overlooked among the island's many similar small…

The Tropical Screech-Owl is a small, well-camouflaged owl whose trilling, frog-like song is a familiar night sound in gardens, forest edge, and…

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 Tungara Frog is a small, warty-skinned frog whose distinctive "whine-chuck" call and habit of building floating foam nests make it one of the most…

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 Turnip-tailed Gecko is a large, powerfully built forest gecko of Trinidad, named for its plump, turnip-shaped regenerated tail, and capable of a…

The Turquoise Tanager is a brilliantly coloured canopy bird of Trinidad's forest, its bright turquoise-blue head and body offset by a golden-yellow belly…

Urich's Robber Frog is a small, forest-floor frog of Trinidad's Northern Range, part of a large group of direct-developing frogs that skip the tadpole…

The Velvety Free-tailed Bat is the small, fast-flying bat most likely to be seen streaking over Trinidad and Tobago's towns and villages at dusk. A…

The Violaceous Euphonia is a small, richly coloured songbird common across Trinidad and Tobago, the male displaying a deep violet-blue sheen across the…

The Violaceous Trogon is a smaller relative of the Collared Trogon found in Trinidad's lowland forest, the male displaying a deep violet-blue sheen across…

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 Whistling Frog is named for the male's distinctive rising, whistle-like call, one of the most recognisable amphibian sounds in Trinidad and Tobago's…

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 Hawk is a strikingly pale raptor of Trinidad's tall forest, its mostly white plumage making it one of the most visually distinctive birds of…

The White Mullet is a common, schooling fish of Trinidad's coastal and estuarine waters, often seen leaping clear of the surface in tight, silvery schools…

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-cheeked Pintail is a distinctive, sharp-tailed duck of coastal lagoons and freshwater wetlands across Trinidad and Tobago, its bright white…

The White-chested Emerald is a common and confiding hummingbird found only on Trinidad within T&T, readily seen visiting garden flowers and forest edge…

The White-collared Swift is the largest swift recorded in Trinidad and Tobago, an impressively fast, powerful flier often seen in noisy flocks sweeping…

The White-faced Whistling Duck is a striking, gregarious duck of Trinidad's freshwater wetlands, its bold white face contrasting with a black crown and…

The White-lined Tanager is a common bird of Trinidad's gardens and forest edge, its plumage a study in contrasts: glossy black males with a barely visible…

The White-necked Heron, also widely known as the Cocoi Heron, is the largest heron regularly recorded in Trinidad and Tobago, a tall, grey-and-white bird…

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 Hawk is a large, pale raptor of open savanna and grassland, often seen soaring high on broad wings or hunting from a fence post over…

The White-tailed Nightjar is a slender, ground-roosting nightjar of open savanna and grassland across Trinidad and Tobago, most often detected at dusk by…

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 White-tipped Dove is a shy, ground-dwelling dove of forest floors and shaded plantations across Trinidad and Tobago, more often heard than seen, its…

The White-winged Vampire Bat is a rare relative of the more familiar Common Vampire Bat, distinguished by pale patches on its wings and a strong…

The Willet is a large, plain-looking shorebird transformed in flight by bold black-and-white wing stripes, a common non-breeding visitor to Trinidad's…

Wilson's Plover is a resident shorebird of Trinidad's sandy and muddy coastlines, distinguished from the many migratory plovers passing through by its…

The Woolly Opossum is a soft-furred, large-eyed marsupial of Trinidad's forest canopy, more delicate and agile than the familiar Common Opossum, and…

The Wrinkle-faced Bat is one of the most visually distinctive bats in Trinidad, with a hairless, deeply folded face and no visible nose-leaf, giving it an…

The Yapok, or Water Opossum, is the only truly aquatic marsupial in the world and one of Trinidad's least-seen mammals. Superficially otter-like with…

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 Warbler is a small, bright, resident songbird found in mangroves and coastal scrub across Trinidad and Tobago, one of the few warblers to breed…

The Yellow-bellied Elaenia is a common, adaptable flycatcher of garden and forest-edge habitats across Trinidad and Tobago, most readily identified by a…

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-crowned Parrot is a large, mostly green Amazon parrot found on Trinidad, distinguished by a variable patch of yellow feathering on the crown…

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-hooded Blackbird is a striking marsh bird of Trinidad's freshwater wetlands, the male's vivid yellow head and throat contrasting boldly against…

The Yellow-legged Thrush is a sleek, dark forest thrush of Trinidad, the male's glossy black plumage set off by a bright yellow bill, eye-ring, and legs,…

The Yellow-rumped Cacique is a noisy, highly social forest bird of Trinidad, nesting in dense colonies of long, woven, hanging nests suspended from a…

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…

The Yellowtail Snapper is a slender, brightly marked reef fish common around Tobago, easily recognised by the bold yellow stripe running from snout to a…

The Zone-tailed Hawk is a dark raptor remarkable for its close resemblance to the Turkey Vulture, mimicking the vulture's silhouette, tilting flight, and…