Cayman Islands Patricia E. Bradley, Mat Cottam, Gina Ebanks-Petrie and Joni Soloman Michael Gore (FLPA) Michael West Indian Whistling-ducks, Cayman General introduction The Cayman Islands comprise three low-lying islands: season from May to November and a relatively dry season Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. These from December to April. Air temperatures (recorded on emergent limestone bluffs are situated along the Grand Cayman) range from a low of 11.2˚C to a high of submerged Cayman Ridge, which is continuous with the 36.5˚C, but the mean monthly air temperatures range from Sierra Maestra mountains of south-eastern Cuba. The only 24.75˚C (February) to 28.4˚C (July). North-easterly Cayman Islands are located between latitudes 19˚20'N and trade winds predominate for most of the year, with 19˚43'N and longitudes 79˚50'W and 81˚21'W, and are hurricanes occurring mainly between August and situated in the western extreme of the Caribbean, November. Damaging storms strike the islands at a approximately 155 miles (250 km) south of Cuba, a similar frequency of approximately once every ten years. Storm distance east of Jamaica. Grand Cayman is situated some surges and high winds during tropical and winter storms 81 miles (130 km) south-west of Little Cayman and almost certainly cause significant mortality among birds. Cayman Brac, which are in turn separated from each other Christopher Columbus is credited with the discovery of the by a narrow channel, 4 miles (7 km) wide. The Cayman islands on 10 May 1503, naming Little Cayman and Islands are composed entirely of calcareous marine Cayman Brac Las Tortugas, a reference to the abundant sea deposits and were formed by uplifting and block faulting turtles he sighted. The islands were later renamed Lagartos, of the ocean floor around 10 million years ago. meaning alligator or large lizard, probably a reference to The local climate is influenced by the location of the Islands crocodiles seen on Little Cayman. Around 1540 the name in the central Caribbean Basin. They are sheltered by the Caymanas was applied, derived from the Carib word for Greater and Lesser Antilles from the north-east trade marine crocodile. The two species of crocodiles are now winds, which persist for most of the year. The islands have extinct, the freshwater crocodile Crocodylus rhombifer within a tropical marine climate with two distinct seasons: a wet historic times. 65 66 Important Bird Areas intheUnitedKingdomOverseasTerritories Areas Important Bird Cuba Jamaica KY003 KY004 KY002 KY001 Cayman Islands KY009 KY007 KY010 KY006 KY008 KY005 0025 kilometres Cayman Islands There were no pre-Columbian inhabitants and human shrew Nesophontes sp., – and a reptile, the Freshwater habitation is a relatively recent event. It was not until 1741 Crocodile Crocodylus rhombifer. These extinctions are that permanent settlements were established on Grand believed to be linked to human settlement of the islands, Cayman, the first capital being Bodden Town, on the south and subsequent introduction of cats and dogs, along with coast. The capital was later relocated to George Town, on the rats Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus. Other the west coast, which remains its location to the present day. introduced mammals include the House Mouse Mus At the start of the 19th century, the population of the musculus and the Central American Red Agouti Dasyprocta Cayman Islands numbered some 1,000 individuals. Wireless punctata, the latter now effectively occupying the ecological contact and international phone services were established in niche of the Hutia. The extant native mammals of the the 1930s, with further modernisation in the 1950s. This Cayman Islands are now represented solely by bats, of included the development of air services linking the three which nine species are known, including an endemic sub- islands and provision of an electricity supply in George species of the big Brown Bat Eptesticus fuscus. Town. A fledgling tourism industry was also established Habitat loss is the other major threat to biodiversity. around this time, swelling the population to about 8,000. Historically, forests were exploited for timber and fuel. Into the 1960s, the remittance of sailors and merchant Agriculture is also well established, especially in those seamen remained the major economic income for the areas supporting pockets of wind-blown soil deposits. islands; however, the banking and trust legislation of 1966 More recently, clearance of vegetation for the extraction of laid the financial foundations that would change the aggregate and urban development has accounted for the Cayman Islands for ever. During the 1970s the islands most significant losses of terrestrial and wetland habitat. enjoyed unprecedented prosperity as a result, with an Habitat loss probably contributed to the extinction of the explosion in both the banking and tourism industries, and only endemic bird, the Grand Cayman Thrush, last seen in a corresponding increase in population. The total 1938. However, ongoing evaluation of the taxonomic status population of the islands currently exceeds 42,000, and is of several island endemics, currently distinguished at the growing at a rate of about 3% per year. The Cayman sub-species level, indicates that these probably qualify as Islands are currently ranked the fifth largest financial centre full species – most notably the Cayman Brac (Cuban) Parrot in the world, with a GNP of CI$900 million. and Grand Cayman Blue Iguana Cyclura (nubila) lewisi, both of which are similarly threatened by habitat loss. It is believed that mosquitoes were accidentally introduced to the islands some time soon after European settlement. The Cayman Islands have never been physically connected They quickly established and multiplied. At the start of the to any other land mass. However, incidence of endemism is 1970s, the mosquito density was measured as more than fairly limited, due to a combination of the close proximity twice the maximum recorded anywhere in the United of neighbouring islands and strong trade winds, which States. Under the active control of the government’s assist dispersal. As a result, the Cayman Islands’ floral, Mosquito Research and Control Unit, established in 1966, avian and insect communities are closely allied with those the mosquito population was greatly reduced, further of Cuba and Jamaica. Other groups however, including the increasing the attractiveness of the Cayman Islands as a herpetofauna and non-marine molluscs, display a high tourist destination. The tourism industry now caters to degree of endemism. Approximately 75% of Cayman’s over two million visitors each year, the majority of whom herpetofauna is endemic (Seidel and Franz 1994). These are cruise-ship passengers. The recent economic boom and include the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana Cyclura (nubila) population increase places a burgeoning pressure on the lewisi, Grand Cayman Blind Snake Typhlops caymanensis and natural environment. The Cayman Islands Government the Grand Cayman Ground Boa Tropidophis caymanensis Department of the Environment has established, and caymanensis, with endemic sub-species Tropidophis monitors, several Marine Parks around the islands, and is caymanensis parkeri on Little Cayman and Tropidophis in the process of establishing a series of National Parks. caymanensis schwartzi on Cayman Brac. A total of 30 of the The other major conservation institution is the National 48 non-marine molluscs are endemic to the islands. By Trust for the Cayman Islands, a non-governmental non- 1984, some 21 endemic species and sub-species of flora had profit organisation, which operates under a joint mission: been identified (Proctor 1984). Following numerous ‘to preserve natural environments and places of historic additions to the original published list, the total number of significance in the Cayman Islands for present and future non-cultivated plant species has now reached generations’. approximately 700. Loss of plant species has also been noted. First recorded in 1899, Cayman Sage Salvia In 1937, Lord Moyne collected the first vertebrate fossils caymanensis was last seen and collected in 1969. from a cave in Cayman Brac. These were of the capromyid rodent Capromys. More than 62 vertebrate fossil species are The habitat of the Cayman Islands may be broadly now known from the islands: two amphibians, 12 reptiles, categorised into four vegetation types – wetlands, coastal, 34 birds and 14 mammals (see Appendix 1, which lists dry evergreen forest, woodland and shrubland – as well as avian fossils). The islands have suffered several extinctions man-modified areas. within historic times including three birds – the Audubon’s Wetland habitats include mangrove swamps, saline lagoons Shearwater, Grand Cayman Thrush and Jamaican Oriole – and ponds, grassland freshwater ponds, brackish sedge two mammals – the Hutia Capromys sp., a West Indian 67 Important Bird Areas in the United Kingdom Overseas Territories and Typha swamps. The marine mangrove ecosystem and spoil banks possess the potential to support increased comprises four main species: Red Mangrove Rhizophora numbers of native plants and wildlife if appropriate mangle, White Mangrove Laguncularia racemosa, Black development, planting and regeneration schemes are Mangrove Avicennia germinans and Buttonwood Conocarpus employed. Introduced and cultivated species on the three erectus. Modified areas such as secondary swamps provide islands include Coconut Palm Cocos nucifera, Mango important habitat