Reply #81: Some of us DU posters were all posting on another message board [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

when it was announced, around 2000, that a new mammal species, never seen before anywhere, had been discovered. News of this, with photos made it into American newspapers and tv shows, National Geographic, etc.

Cuba has long been attractive for biologists, having things like the world's smallest frog, the world's smallest hummingbird, crocodiles, and a ton of other rare species.

Cuba Saves Five Internationally Important Wetlands

GLAND, Switzerland, January 6, 2003 (ENS) - Cuba has set aside some of the most important wetlands in the Caribbean for protection from development and climate change. Calling them "extraordinarily valuable," the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention announced today that the Cuban government has designated five areas for the List of Wetlands of International Importance.

Designation of wetlands under the Ramsar Convention brings increased publicity and prestige for the lands, and the increased possibility of support for conservation and wise use measures. The five Cuban sites include an array of coastal wetland types and provide support for many species of plants and animals, some of them rare or endangered.

The efforts by Cuban authorities to designate these new sites have been assisted by the Living Waters Program of WWF, the conservation group. They are added to the large site that Cuba had previously listed under Ramsar, Cienaga de Zapata, a major wintering site and stopover for North American migratory water birds, also a WWF project.

At 313,500 hectares (1,210 square miles) Buenavista Bay, in Cuba's central region, is already a national park, a protected area, and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. As described by Julio Montes de Oca of the Ramsar Secretariat, who describes all of the five Cuban wetlands, Buenavista Bay includes extensive beaches and dune systems, coastal lagoons, mangroves and karstic mound formations that are unique within the Cuban archipelago.
(snip/...)

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2003/2003-01-06-02.asp