Guantanamo: critters

A baby Ridley's sea turtle heads for the water. Once there, the danger of getting eaten by a shore bird is reduced, but life is still rough -- there's only a small chance this one reached adulthood.

Cuban iguanas seem to be fond of the beach.

This sea lion, while not native to the area, showed up one day and established residence under a GTMO dock.

It's little wonder that these guys have been stand-ins for dinosaurs in cheap horror films. Though they grow to four feet in length and are chunkier-bodied than the more familiar green iguana, the Cuban variety is entirely harmless, living on plants. This one is shedding his skin.

Like those on many islands, Cuban deer are smaller than those found on bigger pieces of land, where food is more plentiful. The deer are quite common at GTMO. Sometimes one wanders into the minefield, and that's that.

Capt. Williams had tamed this one.

The "banana rat," or hutia, isn't technically a rat. It got its name because its droppings -- which it eats; as with some other rodents and related creatures, hutia don't absorb some nutrients until the second time through -- are banana shaped. This one was kept as a pet by the base veterinarian. Army Capt. Bruce Williams.

This banana rat has evolved a liking for root beer. Guantanamo residents dislike the hutia, because they gnaw on everything, most especially the rubber parts of car engines -- hard to replace on the island outpost. On the other side of the minefield, hutia are popular food items.