Animals+of+Puerto+Rico

There are two very important animals that are endemic to the Puerto Rican region: the Coquí and the Puerto Rican Parrot.

= =  The C oquí

The Puerto Rican coquí is a very tiny and small tree frog only about one inch long. Some coquíes look green, some brown and some yellowish - actually they are translucent. Coquíes have a high pitched sound and can be heard from far away.

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The coquíes begin to sing when the sun goes down at dusk. Their melody serenades islanders to sleep. Coquíes sing all night long until dawn when they stop singing and head back to the nest. 

Coquíes are in danger of extinction. Why are coquíes in extinction? Because of deforestation. People have destroyed their habitat often destroying their eggs and destroying their source of food and nourishment.

The Puerto Rican Parrot The Puerto Rican parrot is a small amazon parrot, about 11 inches in length and weighing about 10 ounces. Its tail is a short and squared-off. The overall color of the Puerto Rican parrot is green. The wing tips are blue and usually are visible only when the bird is in flight. It has a white ring around the eyes and a red blaze above its beak. media type="youtube" key="yz9DRhbYcUo?fs=1" height="385" width="480" align="center"  PWhen Christopher Columbus arrived here on his second voyage of exploration in 1493, these birds were a common sight throughout the island. Only in the protected Caribbean National Forest could the parrots still find the large trees that they needed for nesting. A parrot aviary has been established in the El Yunque National Rainforest. Here parrot eggs are hatched and fledged in captivity, birds are prepared for living in the wild and subsequently released. The present population in the wild numbers less than 50 individual birds but captive individuals and pairs are being released into the wild on a yearly basis, and their survival rates are encouraging.  

