The island of Redonda, owned by Antigua and Barbuda, is a beautiful, forbidding rock in the Lesser Antillean Islands. It is home to three endemic species of lizards: an anole (Anolis nubilus), a ground lizard (Pholidoscelis atrata), and and as of yet unnamed Sphaerodactylus dwarf gecko.
Until 2017, the island was also overrun with rats and goats, introduced to the island by humans over a century ago. These rats and goats had denuded the island of vegetation and were threatening the birds and lizards living on the island. The government of Antigua and Barbuda decided to eradicate the mammals and my team and I were brought on to gather baseline data on the natural history of the lizards to determine how they evolve after the eradication and as the islands recover.
Read more posts about the project here.
Colin Donihue 