Natural history of Trinidad and Tobago in the section above on the reptilian fauna of Trinidad and Tobago, a number of species of marine turtles including the leatherback turtle, hawksbill turtle, loggerhead turtle, olive ridley turtle and green sea turtle frequent the waters around and/or nest on some of the beaches of both islands. Whales and dolphins were far more common to Trinidad and Tobago's waters in earlier times, but the very rigorous whaling industry of the 19th century decimated the population of whales in the Gulf of Paria (called 'Golfo de Balena' or Gulf of Whales by Christopher Columbus). Today, dolphins may still be regularly
Loggerhead shrike upon thorns or barbed wire for facilitated consumption. The numbers of Loggerhead shrike have significantly decreased in recent years, especially in Midwestern, New England and Mid-Atlantic areas. In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the loggerhead shrike in his "Ornithologie" based on a specimen collected in Louisiana in the Unites States. He used the French name "La pie-griesche de la Louisiane" and the Latin "Lanius ludovicianus". Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not usually conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the