Here are a few photos of some creatures and plants I encountered at the summit of Pic Paradis, the tallest point on the island of Saint Martin. The most interesting was probably the large slug I found crawling across a tree trunk. Compared to slugs I have seen in North America, this had a peculiarly flattened shape and seemed less moist, no doubt an adaptation to the drier climate here. I was also able to spot several dwarf geckos in the leaf litter of the forest, including this Sphaerodactylus macrolepis. There were a number of butterflies as well, including several skippers and a very pale, small sulfur that I did not capture on film (or memory card as the case may be).

Also, I almost forgot to mention that I saw an indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus) running across the road. It looked a bit like a reddish-brown squirrel with a scraggly tail. Apparently the mongoose was introduced to the island in 1888, and since then it has been implicated in the demise of various local species of animal.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at 10:57 am and is filed under Explorations, Les Fruits sur la Terre. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.