page_title: Fauna of the United States Virgin Islands
section_title: Land mammals
hierarchical_section_title: Fauna of the United States Virgin Islands / Land mammals
caption_attribution_description: English: Greater Bulldog Bat or Fisherman Bat, Noctilio leporinus (Linnaeus, 1758), adult, captive specimen, originally captured from Puerto Rico, photographed in the United States Español: murciélago pescador Français&#160;: Grand noctilion Magyar: Nagy nyúlszájú denevér Nederlands: Grote hazenlipvleermuis of grote visservleermuis Polski: Rybak nocny Português: morcego-pescador
context_page_description: The fauna of the United States Virgin Islands consists of 144 species of birds, 22 species of mammals, 302 species of fish and 7 species of amphibians. The wildlife of the U.S.V.I. includes numerous endemic species of tropical birds, fish, and land reptiles as well as sea mammals. The only endemic land mammals are six species of native bats: the greater bulldog bat, Antillean fruit-eating bat, red fruit bat, Brazilian free-tailed bat, velvety free-tailed bat and the Jamaican fruit bat. Some of the nonnative land mammals roaming the islands are the white-tailed deer, small Asian mongoose, goats, feral donkeys, rats, mice, sheep, hogs, dogs and cats.
  Sea mammals includes numerous species of whales, dolphins, orcas, manatees and dugongs. The islands’ only species of seal, the Caribbean monk seal, was deemed extinct in the early 1950s. Virgin Islands National Park and the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument are the two largest among many refugees for numerous species of wildlife. Some of the currently endangered animals includes the West Indian manatee, Virgin Islands tree boa, Saint Croix ground lizard, and the green sea turtle.
context_section_description: While there is an abundance of sea mammals, the only endemic land mammal found in the U.S.V.I. is the bat, in which there are six different species: red fig-eating bat, greater bulldog bat, Jamaican fruit-eating bat, Antillean fruit-eating bat, velvety free-tailed bat, and the Brazilian free-tailed bat. Three of these are protected under the Virgin Islands Endangered and Indigenous Species Act of 1990.
  Of the non-native mammals, the white-tailed deer was introduced to the islands during the 1700s, while feral hogs and dogs where introduced by natives during the Pre-Columbian era. European settlers later introduced domesticated species such as donkeys, sheep, goats, horses, chickens, cats, and also local pests such as the rat and the small Asian mongoose.
  The small Asian mongoose has been blamed for numerous native extinctions and has reached a density of two animals per acre across the U.S. Virgin Islands. While the small Asian mongoose was introduced in the 1800s to control rat populations, the white-tailed deer was imported for deer hunting purposes in the late 1700s and again through the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937.
caption: The greater bulldog bat is among the six bats that are native to the islands.
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