Green
Redonda rescue Tiny, isolated Redonda is a haven for seabirds and home to rare species of lizard — whose numbers have dwindled because of the depradations of invasive rats and goats. A new restoration project aims to turn back the clock, Erline Andrews writes Photography courtesy Jenny Daltry/Fauna and Flora International
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he dwarf geckos of Redonda, Sphaerodactylus sp, are among the rarest creatures on earth. About an inch long, on average, with translucent brown skin spotted white and bulging eyes, they can be found only on the one-mile stretch of mountainous island that Columbus mistakingly thought was round — hence
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his name for it: Santa María de la Redonda. Today, uninhabited Redonda in the Leeward Islands is part of Antigua and Barbuda, though it’s closer to St Kitts and Nevis. Researchers think the geckos meet the criteria to be on the list of critically endangered species. Their numbers were reduced by the destruction of their habitat by invasive species — rats and goats —
Ameiva atrata is a ground lizard endemic to Redonda
brought to the island more than a century ago by humans. But now people are racing to reverse the damage and save the dwarf gecko and two other lizard species endemic to Redonda. A ground lizard, Ameiva atrata, long, glossy black, and described as fearlessly inquisitive by researchers, is listed as critically endangered. And a tree lizard, Anolis nubilis, which has few trees left to climb and actually lives mainly between the rocks of the almost barren island, is for the time being listed as stable. Redonda is also the nesting place for hundreds of seabirds. According to a 2012 survey, more than fifty per cent of masked boobies — the largest booby species, distinguished by a dark grey face that contrasts with a mostly white body — in the Lesser Antilles nest on Redonda. And more than twenty per cent of the breeding pairs of the region’s brown boobies — large, long-billed birds with a white, feathered bib extending from chest to belly — use Redonda, along with twelve per cent of magnificent frigate birds.