New Dominican Republic nature reserve

This video is about the Hispaniolan Solenodon.

From BirdLife:

Grupo Jaragua’s first land purchase initiative saves 100 ha of threatened Caribbean forest

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Grupo Jaragua (BirdLife in the Dominican Republic) has successfully purchased a 100 ha corridor of transitional, previously unprotected and highly threatened forest within the Jaragua-Bahoruco-Enriquillo Biosphere Reserve. The initiative, a first in terms of land purchase for Grupo Jaragua, is an important step towards halting the conversion of Caribbean forest with high conservation value to low yield cattle or crop farming. …

The Jaragua-Bahoruco-Enriquillo Biosphere Reserve is located in the south-west of the Dominican Republic, connecting lowland dry forest at sea level in the Barahona Peninsula (Jaragua National Park IBA) to tropical montane forest in the highlands of Sierra de Bahoruco IBA. These forests are located outside the country’s current protected area network and are vital for the maintenance of habitat connectivity to ensure the survival of ecologically-isolated species populations. They also provide an important buffer against the additional stress that climate change is likely to place on the protected areas.

This region holds more than 40 globally threatened species including birds such as Black-capped Petrel Pterodroma hasitata, Bay-breasted Cuckoo Coccyzus rufigularis, La Selle Thrush Turdus swalesi, Hispaniolan Crossbill Loxia megaplaga, Hispaniolan Amazon Amazona ventralis and Parakeet Aratinga chloroptera. Moreover, the area is home to six Critically Endangered frogs, Hispaniola’s only extant endemic land mammals – the Endangered Hispaniolan Solenodon Solenodon paradoxus and Hutia Plagiodontia aedium, and the Vulnerable Rhinoceros Rock Iguana Cyclura cornuta.