If you're thinking of buying tickets for an El Yunque rainforest tour, you must be wondering what animals you'll see.
Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and fish all abound inside El Yunque, and while you might expect ferocious beasts inside the rainforest, Puerto Rico's wildlife is a little different.
Due to its isolated island nature (it was formed by volcanic activity during the Triassic period), it had no land bridge to any continent. All of its animals reached Puerto Rico by either swimming, floating or flying, so their size is smaller compared to their continental cousins. The largest mammal you can expect to find is the mongoose (or a rat, but we don't want to put you off!).
Here's a quick roundup of some of the animals in El Yunque that you might run into on your visit:
El Yunque National Forest serves as a habitat for 97 bird species, of which 45 are migratory, plus bats, rats, cats, and dogs. The cats are feral and not so different from house cats in terms of size, so don't expect to see any big cats hanging out in the trees.
With fur and feather-covered friends out of the way, there's also a huge ecosystem of reptiles, insects, and fish inside the forest. There are various types of lizards, geckos, and snakes, and different kinds of Coquí (a small frog native to Puerto Rico).
If you're fascinated by bugs, then you'll be interested to hear that El Yunque is home to creatures that would make anyone else's skin crawl. Fire ants, the tarantula hawk, and the tailless whip-scorpion all reside in El Yunque.