ASK A SCIENTIST: Cuba’s Biodiversity – What Is Cuba?
Title slide: blue background with silhouettes of animals.
KID'S VOICE: What is Cuba?
On screen text: Sam, age 8.
Woman sitting in museum room begins to speak.
ANA LUZ PORZECANSKI: Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean region. Many people think it's just one island, but it's actually an archipelago of more than 4,000 islands, but it does have one main large island. And in this island, about 11 million people live there. And it's about 110 kilometers square.
Map of Cuba showing its proximity to Haiti, Mexico, and Florida, as mentioned by the speaker.
PORZECANSKI: In terms of where it is, located kind of between Mexico and Haiti, and just about 95 miles south of Florida in the United States.
ASK A SCIENTIST: Cuba’s Biodiversity – What Kinds of Environments Exist In Cuba?
Title slide: blue background with silhouettes of animals.
KID'S VOICE: What kinds of environments exist in Cuba?
On screen text: Simone, Age 10
Woman sitting in museum room begins to speak.
ANA LUZ PORZECANSKI: Cuba has many different and some unusual kinds of rocks and soils. And it also has different topography, so it has flat areas, mountain areas, caves. And so because of this, almost every ecosystem or habitat you find in the whole Caribbean can be found in Cuba.
Images of dry forests, wet (rain) forests, wetlands with pond, grasslands, mangroves and coral reefs, illustrating the diverse range of environments.
PORZECANSKI: You have dry forests, moist forests, wetlands, grasslands, mangroves, coral reefs. And because of this diversity of environments, you also get a lot of diversity of living things, of biodiversity.
ASK A SCIENTIST: Cuba’s Biodiversity – What Is Biodiversity?
Title slide: blue background with silhouettes of animals.
KID'S VOICE: What is biodiversity? Why is it so important, anyway?
On screen text: Emily, Age 7
Woman sitting in museum room begins to speak.
ANA LUZ PORZECANSKI: Biodiversity is short for biological diversity, is simply all of the life on the planet, on planet Earth.
Images of bacteria, a red mushroom (fungi), a pink and orange flying bird, and a brightly colored orchid (plants).
PORZECANSKI: Everything from bacteria, to fungi, to animals, to plants, and ecosystems as well, so forests, and deserts, and including us, of course, humans.
Porzecanski speaks in a museum room.
PORZECANSKI: And it's important because the life that we live is made possible by biodiversity. The water we drink, the air we breathe, the food we eat, even some of the medicines we take when we're sick come from biodiversity. And it's also important because it brings people together. It's a part of who we are.
ASK A SCIENTIST: Cuba’s Biodiversity – Why Is the Biodiversity of Cuba So Important?
Title slide: blue background with silhouettes of animals.
KID'S VOICE: Why is the biodiversity of Cuba so important?
On screen text: Rob, Age 11
Woman sitting in museum room begins to speak.
ANA LUZ PORZECANSKI: The biodiversity of Cuba is important to Cubans, of course, because it provides many benefits to them, like water, and food, and protection from storms, and also income from tourism. It's also part of what being Cuban is, is their relationship to their biodiversity.
Another reason why biodiversity of Cuba is important is because a lot of the species found there, the organisms found there, are found nowhere else in the planet. They're irreplaceable. And that's really interesting for scientists like me. It makes me wonder, why is this species different? How did it come to be that way? And if I compare it to others in the Caribbean, what can it tell me about how life evolved there?
ASK A SCIENTIST: Cuba’s Biodiversity – What Plants or Animals Live Only In Cuba?
Title slide: blue background with silhouettes of animals.
KID'S VOICE: What plants or animals live only in Cuba?
On screen text: Tim, Age 12
Woman sitting in museum room begins to speak.
ANA LUZ PORZECANSKI: Many plants and animals are found only in Cuba, what scientists call endemic, found nowhere else in the planet. For instance, half the plants are found only in Cuba. That's one of every two plants. It's even more extreme for frogs, where over 95% of the frogs are found only in Cuba.
Photo of a Mount Iberia eleuth (frog), next to the tip of a pencil, to demonstrate how tiny it is.
PORZECANSKI: My favorite is the tiny Mount Iberia eleuth. It's really adorable. And also for example, mollusks, 90%, over 90% are found only in Cuba.
Photo of a polymita snail, in a bright yellow and green spiral shell.
PORZECANSKI: The painted snails, or polymita snails, are just really stunning, like somebody painted them by hand.
And for birds, it's also true that there are species only found there, the Cuban trogon, the Cuban tody, and the bee hummingbird, which is the smallest bird in the world.
Photo of a Cuban Trogon bird sitting on a branch, with bright blue and red feathers. Photos of two other brightly colored birds—a tody and a bee hummingbird.
PORZECANSKI: And then of course, there's some really big guys, like the Cuban crocodile.
Photo of a crocodile with its head out of the water, and lots of teeth showing.
ASK A SCIENTIST: Cuba’s Biodiversity – How Does the Biodiversity of Cuba Differ?
Title slide: blue background with silhouettes of animals.
KID'S VOICE: How does the biodiversity of Cuba differ from the biodiversity around the world?
On screen text: Jaden, Age 12
Woman sitting in museum room begins to speak.
ANA LUZ PORZECANSKI: So, the biodiversity of Cuba is special because of how Cuba has changed over time. At times, the Cuban islands were more connected to land and other islands around it. For instance, when the sea level was lower thousands of years ago. And then at times, they have been very isolated. So that has allowed for a very interesting mix of animals to evolve on the island.
Some are more related to those in the continent, and some are really unique. So, some extraordinary species of have evolved there, like the snails and frogs that I've talked about, and also the Cuban giant owl, and the giant ground sloths, both of which are now extinct. And even today, Cuba has species that are found only there, and species that continue to connect it to other places, like the birds who migrate there every year.
ASK A SCIENTIST: Cuba’s Biodiversity – How Are Animals In Cuba Different Than Those In the US?
Title slide: blue background with silhouettes of animals.
KID'S VOICE: How are animals in Cuba different than those in the US?
On screen text: Leah, Age 8
Woman sitting in museum room begins to speak.
ANA LUZ PORZECANSKI: So, Cuba is very different from the US. It's an island, not a continent. And it's also in a tropical region, whereas the US has temperate and subtemperate regions, and so they have very different animals. Some of the mammals, for example, that you see in the US, like wolves, and deer, and bears, you don't see that in Cuba. But you do see other really interesting mammals.
Photo of a hutia, a rat-like mammal.
PORZECANSKI: They have, for example, hutias, which is these arboreal, or tree-dwelling rodents get to be very large.
Photo of bats hanging in a dark cave, and photo of a small bat sitting in a flower with pollen all over his face.
PORZECANSKI: And they have bats. Many of them live in very hot caves, and they're really, really cute.
Photo of a man holding a solenodon—a mammal with a long nose, long whiskers, and a rat-like tail.
PORZECANSKI: And they have a very interesting insectivore called a solenodon, which is related to hedgehogs or other kinds of mammals, and it has poisonous saliva.
KID'S VOICE: Can I see any of Cuba's animals at the zoo? Can I have one as a pet?
ASK A SCIENTIST: Cuba’s Biodiversity – Can I See Any of Cuba’s Animals At the Zoo?
Title slide: blue background with silhouettes of animals.
KID'S VOICE: Can I see any of Cuba's animals at the zoo? Can I have one as a pet?
On screen text: Amanda, Age 8
Woman sitting in museum room begins to speak.
ANA LUZ PORZECANSKI: Cuba has many unique and interesting species of lizards and frogs, for instance. Many of them you can see in zoos. For example, you might be able to find a Cuban Knight anole, a type of lizard, Cuban tree frogs, or Cuban rock iguanas.
Photo of a green anole lizard, and a photo of a green and brown rock iguana.
PORZECANSKI: And these could make good pets, but you always have to check to make sure they're allowed in the country where you live, because they're exotic. They're not native to that country.
ASK A SCIENTIST: Cuba’s Biodiversity – Are There Any Invasive Species In Cuba?
Title slide: blue background with silhouettes of animals.
KID'S VOICE: Are there any invasive species in Cuba?
On screen text: Joshua, Age 10
Woman sitting in museum room begins to speak.
ANA LUZ PORZECANSKI: Invasive species are animals or plants that are new to a place, and come from somewhere else, and start spreading in this new place. And yes, Cuba has invasive species. And it shouldn't be a surprise because it was one of the most important trading ports in history, especially during the many hundreds of years when it was a Spanish colony.
And whenever people come and go, animals and plants take a ride with them, sometimes accidentally and sometimes on purpose. So, for instance, in Cuba, in the beginning when trade began, rats made it to Cuba on boats, and that was an accident. But then later, people decided to bring in the small Indian mongoose from Asia to control the rats, thinking it would be a good predator, and that was on purpose.
Photo of a mongoose, sitting with its mouth wide open.
PORZECANSKI: The problem is that now, the mongoose is an invasive species.
Porzecanski sitting in the museum room.
PORZECANSKI: It's spreading, and it doesn't eat only rats. It also eats the birds, and the lizards, and the frogs. And so those working on conservation and those working in the protected areas of Cuba are trying to control their population.
ASK A SCIENTIST: Cuba’s Biodiversity – How Might Cuba’s Biodiversity Change?
Title slide: blue background with silhouettes of animals.
KID'S VOICE: How might Cuba's biodiversity change in the future?
On screen text: Loretta, Age 12
Woman sitting in museum room begins to speak.
ANA LUZ PORZECANSKI: It's very hard to predict the future. But one thing you can count on is change. And so, for instance, the climate is changing globally, and that is very likely that it will affect Cuba. It will raise sea levels, and storm frequency, and change the coasts there. And so, the healthiest their ecosystems can be, the better they'll be able to deal with that change. So, for instance, take coral reefs.
Photo of a coral reef with fish and divers.
PORZECANSKI: If a coral reef is healthy, if it has a lot of fish, it has less algae, and it's healthy and diverse, it will be able to, for example, resist new diseases probably more likely than if it didn't.
Porzecanski speaks in the museum room.
PORZECANSKI: And so, it's very important, I think, to protect these ecosystems. And in fact, there are many that are very well-protected in Cuba because of the efforts that Cubans have been doing over the last few decades. And we are working with them to make sure that both nature and people can adapt to these ongoing changes.