Friday, at the ocassion of the International Biodiversity Day, the Ministry of the Environment revealed that on the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, there were 356 species of orchids, whose 126 are endemic. The island has 317 species of birds, 31 of them are endemic. Most birds of Hispaniola (272) are found in Haiti, but the loss of their forest habitats, significantly reduced their populations. In addition, a third of 6,000 plant species recorded on the territory of the two Nations of the island are endemic in Haiti. Nearly a third of the 201 butterfly species are also endemic to the island where we also met 13 marine mammals, 19 species of bats, a giant shrew and a rodent, the Zagouti (pictured).

Finally, Hispaniola has hundreds of species of snails, some of which are found only on the high peaks of Haiti.

IH/ iciHaiti