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What is Biodiversity Cayman?
Biodiversity Cayman is a public education initiative from Sustainable Cayman, supported by the UK Government's Darwin Plus Local programme.
Our mission is to help every resident of the Cayman Islands know, understand, and value our endemic species, our biodiversity and protected areas, and the role of nature in building a resilient Cayman.
Shaped through consultation with the Department of Environment, and aligned with the UK Overseas Territories Biodiversity Strategy (2025), the initiative takes an evidence-led approach built on community engagement and shared values.
Why it matters
#UniquelyOurs to cherish and protect.
An endemic species is one that exists in only one place on the planet. The Cayman Islands are rich with plants and animals you cannot find anywhere else, ever. When one of them disappears from Cayman, it disappears from Earth.
Our woodland, wetland and dry forest also do quiet work for all of us: sheltering wildlife, holding our soils, and helping our islands weather storms and a changing climate.
Laws alone don't keep wild places wild. People do.
Long-term protection for our biodiversity, our protected areas and the natural systems that shelter us from a changing climate and allow us to thrive, depends on a community that knows what it has and stands behind keeping it.
MEET THE ICONIC EIGHT
Grand Cayman Bullfinch
Grand Cayman Bullfinch
Grand Cayman Bullfinch
Melopyrrha taylori
A small, glossy black bird with a stout bill, found only on Grand Cayman. This is the only endemic bird in Cayman.
Cayman Ghost Orchid
Grand Cayman Bullfinch
Grand Cayman Bullfinch
Dendrophylax fawcettii
A leafless orchid whose roots cling to tree trunks in shaded woodland. Its delicate white flowers are rarely seen since they blossom for only two weeks between April and June.
Pygmy Blue Butterfly
Grand Cayman Bullfinch
Pygmy Blue Butterfly
Brephidium exilis
A tiny butterfly with copper-brown and blue-grey wings, easily missed in coastal scrub. One of the smallest butterflies in the world.
Cayman Dwarf Boa
Cayman Brac Cactus
Pygmy Blue Butterfly
Tropidophis caymanensis
A small, harmless snake that shelters in leaf litter and rocky ground. Classified as critically endangered.
Cayman Brac Cactus
Cayman Brac Cactus
Cayman Brac Cactus
Harrisia caymanensis
A sprawling, spiny cactus of dry rocky ground, with round yellow fruit. It's yellowish spherical fruits are smooth.
Broadleaf
Cayman Brac Cactus
Cayman Brac Cactus
Cordia sebestena caymanensis
Cayman's own form of this flowering tree, with clusters of bright orange-red blooms. Leaves traditionally used to polish turtle shells and pots, and for medicinal teas.
Cayman Sage
Cayman Sage
Cayman Sage
Salvia caymanensis
A low-growing plant with small violet-blue flowers on tall, slender stems. Thought to be extinct until rediscovered in 2007.
Old George
Cayman Sage
Cayman Sage
Hohenbergia caymanensis
Our Cayman bromeliad, a large rosette of long, arching leaves. This is a critically endangered bromeliad.
Can you spot the species?
9 of Cayman's endemic species are captured in the illustration above.
Commissioned from local Caymanian artist @bananaartkid (Michael Mothen), all eight of our featured species (and one bonus one!) are hiding in one illustrated scene. Find them in the image above, and go look for them in the wild.
Download the Spot the Species (PDF) sheet and the colouring page for home, school or your next walk.
When you spot one for real, tag @biodiversitycayman so we can share your find.
READ the latest Sustainable Cayman COMMENTARY.