A couple of nights ago Jack and I were watching a video of our last trip to Sri Lanka (sad I know, but until you’ve lived with Spanish TV for 6 years, don’t knock it) and we were reminded of the incredible variety of birds and animals that you find on that island paradise. Kingfishers, cormorants, weaver birds, parakeets, fireflies, monitor lizards, elephants – and that was just in the space of one trip down the Mahweli River in Kandy.
By comparison, the island of Tenerife is rather thin on the ground when it comes to wildlife – Whiskas being the exception of course.
We once had a bizarre conversation with a Brit ‘swallow’ on his last winter sojourn when he casually informed us that wild deer roamed the pine forests around the edge of Teide National Park. When pressed, he had to admit that his information was based solely on the existence of several traffic warning signs which clearly showed the outline of a deer within the red triangular framework. We assured him that there had undoubtedly been a cheap job lot of deer warning signs for sale and the Tinerfeños were using them to advise drivers to watch out for ‘mouflon’, in their typically mas o menos way (which incidentally is the reason why bends only ever occur at 3 kilometre intervals on Tenerife…there was a sale of ‘bends for 3 kilometres’ signs – okay that’s completely unsubstantiated, but I reckon it’s true).
Mouflon are in fact wild sheep with incredibly impressive long, curled horns like some sort of mythological creature. Which is quite appropriate really as we’ve never, ever seen one. Jack thought he saw some on a ridge in the Anaga Mountains once but they were too far away to be sure and to be honest, I thought they looked more like goats. The mouflon allegedly inhabit parts of the Teide National Park and graze on rare species of plant life so they’re considered pests and apparently are killed if spotted by rangers.
Still, the point is that in six years of travelling the island and never having seen one, it seems highly unlikely that they should warrant the use of warning signs to alert drivers to their presence.

He may not be monitor sized, but he's a handsome chap neverthless - Lagarto Tizon, native to Tenerife
Other than the illusive mouflon, we’re pretty much restricted to lizards or run-of-the-mill rabbits, rats, bats and assorted domestic animals. Even the birds, although some are clearly spectacular, pale into insignificance alongside Sri Lanka’s 400 plus species.
But then yesterday afternoon, just as I was leaving the car park to drive to a meeting in the south west of the island, I had to brake hard to avoid hitting a kestrel which swooped down right in front of the car, grabbed a large lizard in both claws and then struggled to achieve height with the weight, flying low in front of the bonnet until it adjusted its carrion and finally flew over the banana plantation wall.
The wildlife might not come up to Sri Lanka standards, but it can still put on a show for you when you least expect it.
Few days ago, I saw a mouflon in Tenerife, in the Nacional Park of the Teide, when I climb a mountain… Very nice and first time in 11 year for me!
Wow! Thank you so much for letting me know, Olivier. At least I now know they’re not a myth!
Amazing, which mountain were you climbing Olivier? I’d love to try and spot one, I thought they had all being culled to extinction on the island.
While walking in the in the National Park today with a group of walkers, one of them suddenly cried out ‘look at the deer’ and across the valley I was amazed to see three deer-like animals bounding across the rocks. They looked like a cross between deer and a goat from a distance but unfortunately were weren’t close enough to see any real detail. I have never seen anything like it on the island and guessed that it must have been mouflon. I can’t think what else they could have been.
Wow, how amazing! You are now part of a very small, select group of human beings who have actually seen the mysterious beast. I’m sooo jealous. Did they make a strange noise? Our friend took some wobbly footage of one in the Masca Barranco and it was making the weirdest noise, a cross between the Hound of the Baskervilles and a Banshee – spooky.
Hi Andy, We didn’t hear any noise but watched them for some time as they ran across the rocks just south of Degollada de Ucanca on the crater rim, to the west of Montana Guajara. Eventually, they just sort of ‘disappeared’ and although we stood watching for a while, we never saw them again, I guess they have a ‘hideout’ in the rocks up there and were running to get away from the noise of us talking. I have often wondered if mouflon actually existed on the island as I remembered reading about them some years ago but have never seen any mention of them elsewhere or met anyone who has ever seen them. I wish I had had a camera with a decent telephoto lens on me at the time.
I saw a pair up near Chinyero / Arenas Negras yesterday. We rounded a corner on one of the forest roads and startled them. They stayed on the trail just keeping ahead of us for a few moments, but when we stopped to take out the camera, they disappeared. That’s my first sighting in over 5 years of mountain biking here!
Okay, this is a conspiracy…why is everyone seeing them except me?! 😦
“when we stopped to take out the camera, they disappeared.” – they’ve obviously cottoned on to this whole ‘are they real or fantasy’ thing that makes them so interesting and have decided to cash in on it. Good policy. I’m off to Arenas Negras to see if they’re still loitering. Cheers for the heads up, Daz.
Yes, I can substantiate Gary’s sighting as it was I who shouted and probably sent them rushing for cover. Although they looked like stockier goats they appeared to run more like deer across the rather rocky terrain. Lovely sight on a fabulous walk with Gary.
Mike
Cheers for the corroboration, Mike. I just wish one of you guys had managed to capture the moment on memory card. For me, they remain the Loch Ness Monster of Tenerife.
After over 30 years visiting Tenerife I saw my first mouflon: dead in the back of a Cabildo truck. 2 dead mouflon, body length around 1.5 meters, height difficult to tell since they were lying on top of each other. About ten happy hunters, some in official jackets were gathered around the truck filling in an official looking document. Place Los Lajos barbecue site, Date 10 May 2017 Time15.30
How awful 😦