Ask a Scientist about Cuba's Reptiles and Amphibians
map of Cuba

Chris Raxworthy answers kids' questions about Cuba in this video interview. He's a herpetologist at the American Museum of Natural History.

 

SHOW HIDE TRANSCRIPT

ASK A SCIENTIST: Cuba’s Reptiles and Amphibians – What Is the Difference Between a Reptile and an Amphibian?

Title slide: Blue background with a lizard and frog silhouette.

On Screen text: Cindy, Age 9.

KID'S VOICE: What is the difference between a reptile and an amphibian?

Man sitting at a desk, in an office with a globe, stuffed lizards and specimen jars, begins to speak.

CHRIS RAXWORTHY: So, the difference between reptiles and amphibians is reptiles have got scales and dry skin.

Photo of a bright green lizard sitting on a rock.

RAXWORTHY: They lay hard-shelled eggs, but they have a backbone.

Photo of a brown and cream-colored frog sitting on a leaf.

RAXWORTHY: And amphibians have moist, usually smooth skin. There's no scales on them, and they don't have hard-shelled eggs. But they do have, also, a backbone.

Raxworthy speaks in his office.

RAXWORTHY: And both groups have got eyes and a mouth, but some of them look rather strange, like some of the elongated forms, like the caecilians.

Photo of a caecilian, a legless, worm-like amphibian.

RAXWORTHY: They're amphibians, as are burrowing skinks.

Photo of a brown lizard-like amphibian with bright red eyes.

Photo of a dark and light blue snake, crawling in leaves.

RAXWORTHY: And of course, snakes are very elongated without legs. So, some of the species have got legs, and some have actually lost them.

ASK A SCIENTIST: Cuba’s Reptiles and Amphibians – How Many Kinds of Reptiles and Amphibians Live in Cuba?

Title slide: blue background with a lizard and frog silhouette.

On Screen text: Hunter, Age 13.

KID'S VOICE: How many kinds of reptiles and amphibians live in Cuba?

Man sitting at a desk, in an office with a globe, stuffed lizards and specimen jars, begins to speak.

CHRIS RAXWORTHY: There are a big diversity of reptiles and amphibians in Cuba. And with the amphibians, there are currently 67 species, that are described, but we know that there are going to be a lot more frogs still to be discovered in Cuba. All the species in Cuba are frogs, the amphibians. We don't see examples of salamanders or caecilians there.

And with the reptiles, there are currently about 147 species or 149 species of reptiles that have been recorded in Cuba.

Photo of a bright blue and green lizard sitting on a stick.

Photo of a snake with his head peeking up among leaves.

RAXWORTHY: And they include things like lizards and snakes. There is an aquatic turtle there, for example. And they also have marine turtles.

Photo of a sea turtle swimming underwater.

Raxworthy speaks in his museum office.

RAXWORTHY: But, again, just like the amphibians, we expect that number to continue to increase as more research work discovers more new species.

Image credits

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Image Credits:

green anole, Gail Hampshire/CC-BY-SA-3.0. cuban tree frog, Mark Yokoyama/CC-BY-SA-3.0. caecilian, Teague O'Mara/CC-BY-SA-3.0. blue tongued skink, BenjaminT444/CC-BY-SA-3.0. Cuban snake, Paul Keller/CC-BY-SA-3.0. Cuban snake, Allan Hopkins/CC-BY-SA-3.0. Hawksbill turtle, Reinhard Dirscherl/AGE Fotostock. green anole, Rafael Medina/CC-BY-SA-3.0. Cuban knit anole, Orest Shvadchak/CC-BY-SA-3.0. green anole on tree trunk, Lezumbalaberenjena/CC-BY-SA-3.0. Cuban brown anole, The Wandering Herpetologist/CC-BY-SA-3.0. Sphaerodactylus, AMNH/Christopher Raxworthy. turtle on beach, Bernard Spragg/CC-BY-SA-3.0. Cuban boa, Joe Blossom/Alamy. Cuban tree frog, Larah McElroy/CC-BY-SA-3.0. cave, Patrick Nouhailler/CC-BY-SA-3.0. Humboldt river, Rafael Medina/CC-BY-SA-3.0. Humboldt forest, AMNH/Christopher Raxworthy. Iguana, Sergey Karpov/Alamy. Eleutherodactylus iberia, AMNH/Christopher Raxworthy. Christopher Raxworthy (all pictures), AMNH/Ariel Nevarez. Scientists in school, AMNH/Ariel Nevarez. hutia, AMNH/Ariel Nevarez. crocodile, Thomas Quine/CC-BY-SA-3.0. Eretmochelys imbricata, Thomas Quine/CC-BY-SA-3.0.