Both Trinidad and Tobago used to be a part of the South American mainland.
Over the last 1.500 years, big predators like the harpy eagle and the jaguar have disappeared from Trinidad. Ocelots and tayras now top the food chain. Its other inhabitants have adjusted, like Trinidad’s capuchin monkeys, topping up their menu by cracking snail shells on mangrove branches. Nocturnal oilbirds nest in dark caves, using echolocation to get around.
Tobago is older and more isolated. Most of its original mammal population did not survive its transformation. But less predators means Tobago is a bird paradise. Along its coastline, frigate birds harass tropic birds to steal their haul of fish. And in the depth of night, giant leatherback turtles dig their nests on Tobago’s beaches, filmed with new light-sensitive cameras that turn night into day.
