Wild Caribbean: The Caribbean’s Most Unusual Animals

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April 22, 2014


12. Mountain Chicken (Montserrat, Dominica)

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You know how “Chicken of the Sea” is only tangentially related to… chicken? Well, the Caribbean has its own equivalent. Known as the Mountain Chicken, on account of its poultry-like taste, leptodactylus fallax is found exclusively on Montserrat and Dominica, where for many years it has been eaten as part of a traditional island dish. This species of frog is one of the world’s largest, sometimes growing to nearly a foot in length. Unfortunately, due to a trifecta of environmental factors (habitat loss, volcanic eruptions, and, most drastically, an epidemic of lethal fungus), the Mountain Chicken is now listed as “Critically Endangered,” meaning that they face a very high risk of extinction. Currently, Mountain Chickens are being bred in captivity and released into the wild to restore the population.