The district of Sierra Maestra occupies the southern and eastern utmosts of Granma province whose capital is Bayamo as well as the western and southern of Santiago de Cuba with a surface of more than 6000 sq. kilometers, this territory is almost the same size of the big National Park Sierra Maestra that belongs to the national system of protected areas. This is the result of different factors such as the richness and diversity and also the endemism of its wild fauna.
Amphibious and reptiles are very common in this area. From the elven species of Amphibious, three exist only in the surroundings of Pico Turquino: the Eutherodactylus albipes, E. ‘melacara’ and E. Turquinensis. Among lizards, there is an endemic one of the zone, the ‘Anolis Guazuma’ and also other nine species of lizards. Among mammals, the ‘jutías congas’ (tree rat, Capromys pilorides) and the ‘andaraces’(Capromys melanurus).
Concerning birds, the fauna is represented, among others, by the ‘cartacuba’(Todus multicolor), the ‘tocororo’(Cuban Trogon, Priotelus tecnurus), and the ‘tomeguines’ (Tiaris Canora).
Manuel Rivero Glean gathered in 1998 some species of endemic animals that can be found in the natural regions of Montañas de la Sierra del Turquino (Mountains of the Sierra del Turquino) and Sierra de la Gran Piedra, Sierra Maestra district. Among the species he gathered, there are different species of scorpions including the A. Nanus; different species of butterflies as the Papilio pelaus atkinsi and the Cuban ‘Greta’(an interesting specimen of transparent wings); a diversity of birds such as the green woodpecker, the nightingale, the ‘siju cotunto’, the little mocking bird , the humming bird, and others as the ‘almiquí’, the bat of the ‘jata’, the withered leaves lizard (only in the region of Cabo Cruz), and the ‘catey’.
