BAHAMAS CURLY TAILS ON ABACO: ENCHANTING LIZARDS

January 17, 2012 by rollingharbour

CURLY TAILS - ENCHANTING LIZARDS

This is an expanded and rejigged post based on bits and pieces originally scattered around the MISC WILDLIFE page, written now partly because of various search queries recently – diet and so forth – which had not been covered.

First, the very dull scientific classification bit (wiki-debt): Kingdom – Animalia; Phylum – Chordata; Class – Sauropsida; Suborder – Iguania; Family – Leiocephalidae; Genus – Leiocephalus [Subspecies Carinatus?]

The ‘curly-tailed lizard’ family is widely found throughout the Caribbean but is apparently relatively unstudied (but why on earth not?). There are nearly 30 distinct varieties, many specific to individual islands. My completely uneducated guess is that the Abaco ones may be one of the several subspecies of ‘Cuban or Northern Curly-tailed Lizard’ carinatus, the ones found generally in the Bahamas. But who cares? By any standards they are totally cute! This photo was taken at the bottom of the steps down to the Delphi Club beach.

(Photo credit: Mrs RH)

(Photo credit: PM Himself)

NEW ADDITION April 2012 A fine Curly Tail from Brigitte Carey of Tilloo Cay

DEPLHI CLUB: ‘OFF-DUTY’ CURLY TAIL, OR A DIFFERENT TYPE OF LIZARD?

The CT is described as an active, robust lizard that is mostly terrestrial and will retreat into a burrow or cavity when frightened. It prefers sunny areas with loose rubble and rock. Bahamas curly tails were apparently released intentionally in Palm Beach, Florida, in the 1940s in an attempt to control sugar cane pests.

Jan 2012 update: Having had a number of hits over the last few months for ‘what do Curly Tails eat’ and other CT-related information, I checked out aqualandpetsplus.com of Des Moines, Iowa (the first Google hit, in fact). With kind permission (many thanks, Larry) here’s some more about these little lizards

THE CURLY TAIL DIET: “Considered insectivores, curly-tails scamper right after crickets. They’ll also learn to eat mealworms and superworms from your fingers. You can give them other insects like wax worms which they love but tend to over-eat. Roaches, houseflies, or any arthropods / bugs that accumulate around your porch light make a nice change of pace…OR…take a stroll down the baby food aisle. Think twice about the bananas. Bananas are not good for some lizards. Skip the bananas. Anyway, apple sauce works great. The best thing about baby food? You can add a Calcium/Vitamin D supplement to it. Much easier than dusting crickets (which start cleaning it off the second it gets on them). Curly-tails will also eat bits of leafy lettuce. Uneaten crickets in their cage will also eat the fruits and vegetables you offer your lizards” Larry Arnold

So I can’t answer someone’s specific query ‘do they eat tomatoes?’, save to say ‘why not try tomato sauce’ (and I don’t mean a well-known proprietary brand, one of 57 varieties). Maybe have a few crickets handy in case it is politely declined

For further info on curly tails from theBahamas National Trust website CLICK LINK ===>>> http://www.bnt.bs/curlytaillizardinfo.php?catid=&subid= where there is also a downloadable PDF version

Finally, an excellent CT photo from Gareth Reid, the Master Chef of Delphi

BIBLIOGRAPHY: “101 Uses for a Curly Tail” Rolling Harbour Press (2011)

(1) The gate latch (2) The window latch

(NB No Curly Tails were harmed in the creation of these images)

DELPHI CLUB ABACO & DELPHI THE RESCUE POTCAKE

November 20, 2011 by rollingharbour

Special ‘Harvey the Potcake’ Logo

RESCUING RESCUE DOGS ON ABACO

Jane Mantle has emailed me about the plight of dogs and puppies on Abaco, her involvement in their rescue, and the urgent need for funding for care and medicine:

“Since living here for the past couple of months I have been helping to rescue the rescue dogs. Abaco Animal Rescue recently rescued 9 pups (see attached picture of Delphi) from the roadside”

DELPHI

Found with 8 other puppies by the roadside next to the body of their mother

“They were sitting next to the body of their decomposing mother with traffic and people passing by. Unfortunately even when rescued some of the pups have died due to lack of medication for them. There is a shelter of sorts built on the old municipal dump outside Marsh Harbour. It is OK but alive with rats that are as big as the pups! Abaco Animal Rescue consists of one english lady who basically funds everything herself”

BORIS

Found chained in a box, exposed to the hot sun without any water, and beaten daily to make him become an aggressive fighting dog

“Is there anything that can be put up on your site? (rh: yes indeed!) The enclosed is a flyer that I have put up in the great room next to an empty glass collection jar. There is no money at all for food or basic medication, I have asked both Millie and Lucy to do some fund raising at school etc but that won’t happen until next term. I will also see if I can get hold of medication from vet friends that I have but would be grateful for any publicity that you can give it” Certainly. Here goes:

To see Jane’s flyer CLICK=>POTCAKES: RESCUE DOG APPEAL
To contact Abaco Animal Rescue contact Jennie Zehler at thezehlers1@yahoo.com
Abaco Animal Rescue FACEBOOK PAGE CLICK mini-Harvey ===>>>
[ http://www.facebook.com/groups/103612613009982/]

HARVEY found abandoned by the side of the road

APPEAL by Jane Mantle, Boris & Delphi

POTTY ABOUT POTCAKES? Please support Abaco Animal Rescue by donating your unwanted Bahamian currency – notes or coins. All contributions go directly to buy food and veterinary supplies for the many abandoned and mistreated potcake dogs of Abaco

[APOLOGIES: the formatting gremlin has attacked the second half of this post and I need to work out a cunning plan to outwit it]

PRAYING MANTIS FOUND AT THE DELPHI CLUB, ABACO

October 15, 2011 by rollingharbour

Sandy Walker has emailed with some news in the “Delphi Club Creatures (Non-Guest)” category. It is the first report I have seen / heard of a sighting…

“Just thought that you might like to add the fact that there are praying mantises here on Abaco. There was one on my staircase today. 4 inches long and bright green. I did take pics but they just didn’t work as I was in a rush…”

We’ve all been there with photos and rushes, have we not? So here is one such below (Image credit: animals.nationalgeographic.co

There isn’t much specific info about these in the Bahamas, let alone on Abaco, other than the fact that Eleuthera is said to resemble one. I think I’d need to have a few Kaliks first. See what you think…

Accordingto the Indolent Bloggers’ Bible (Wiki) Mantodea (or Mantises) is an order of insects with approximately 2,200 species in 15 families worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats… Technically the term only refers to one family, meaning the other 14 families are not true mantids. Tough on them. The colloquial name ‘praying mantis’ is sometimes misspelled as ‘preying mantis’, since mantises are predatory. They are related to cockroaches & termites; and are not to be confused with stick/leaf insects, cicadas, grasshoppers or crickets. As if!

ABACO BARBS – THE LATEST NEWS OF THEIR PLIGHT Sept 2011

September 28, 2011 by rollingharbour

Normal(-ish) service is resumed after a break… Before I went away I posted about the Abaco Barbs and the precariousness of their continued existence as a species. I have just heard from Milanne Rehor of ARKWILD with a completely up-to-date report on the current situation. From her account it is clear that these rare wild horses really are on the brink of extinction

“Currently, we have the three mares in a reduced area of the Preserve. We have had limited sightings of one stallion outside the Preserve. The second outside stallion hasn’t been seen in over a year so we don’t know if he still is alive.

The mares’ physical condition is “OK” but because of the smaller size of the Preserve (due to financial cut backs) they are in need of a blacksmith’s attention, veterinary attention to their dental condition and veterinary investigation of their reproductive capabilities.

We are in immediate need of funding to provide grain for the horses, (to supplement the smaller forage area), wages for our men (currently reduced to part time) in their work of feeding the horses, providing security for them and maintaining the electric fence and other chores.

The Bahamian Government has been helpful to a point with an expressed interest and indirect support of the horses , for example the President of our Board of Directors is also the Chief Warden for the Northern Bahamas for the Bahamas National Trust. A number of other board members are equally well placed, but the government has not yet directly contributed financially.

I hope this information helps, I’ll be happy to answer any other questions you may have. Your patience is deeply appreciated and thank you for following our story on your site. Best regards, Mim”

PHOTO CREDITS: ARKWILD CLICK LINK====>>> ARKWILD

ABACO BARBS – THE ISLAND’S ENDANGERED WILD HORSES

September 6, 2011 by rollingharbour

In the rollingharbour tradition of encouraging easy access to online material, here is a selection of 8 videos about Abaco Barbs, the near-extinct wild horses of Abaco. In due course I’ll add some links to the most informative websites and also some photos. The first 3 videos derive from the origins and subsequent conservation work by the charity Arkwild. There’s a link to the Arkwild site in the sidebar Blogroll. The struggle to try to preserve the breed is extremely well documented on the internet, and needs no repetition from me. It’s worth saying, however, that the situation is now worse than ever: in March 2011, there were only 5 horses left, of which only one is a stallion…

The remaining videos are mostly collections of stills, some accompanied by music that you may want to turn down. Or off, in one case. There’s a degree of repetition, but I have left them there in case there is an image that strikes you as special or a nugget of information that is of interest…

THE ARKWILD VIDEOS

Thumbnail 1:49

ABACO BARB TRAILER

Horses in the Pines, the story of the Abaco Barbs. Only 8 left on the planet, their story is both tragic and beautiful. by photogchic1 | 3 years ago |

9:47

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WILD HORSES OF ABACO

This compelling video is an introduction to the story of the Wild Horses Of Abaco. Only a few are left now, we’re fighting hard to save them from … by arkwild | 2 years ago |

2:17

THE ABACO WILD MARES GET SUPPLEMENTAL SNACKS

Because the forest is in a dry cycle, new grasses are not growing fast enough we decided to supplement each mare with a measure of mixed grain and … by arkwild | 1 year ago

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