the rarest animals found in the Philippines

The Philippines may be a small country compared to other countries in the world. But despite its size, the Philippines has a rich biodiversity. In fact, there are many plant and animals species that are only found here. The Philippines has among the highest rates of discovery in the world with sixteen new species of mammals discovered in the last ten years. Because of this, the rate of endemism for the Philippines has risen and likely will continue to rise.

Tridacna Gigas (worlds largest clam)


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It is considered to be the largest clam in the world, and inside it is the largest pearl named “The Pearl of Lao Tzu”. What is interesting is not the shell, but the pearl. It weighs 14 pounds and measures 9.5 inches long and 5.5 inches in diameter. It was valued $42million, and it is believed to be 600 years of age.

tamaraw or dwarf buffalo

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It is a dwarf buffalo which is only found in the Island Of Palawan. It looks like a normal water buffalo but it is quite smaller. People used to call Mindoro as the “Land of the Tamaraws”. About 10,000 heads of these unique pygmy water buffalos were roaming around the island-province of Mindoro in the 1900s. But that was a century ago. Today, the Tamaraws in the province are in danger of extinction, and Mindoro might lose the symbol that it once proudly introduced to the world.

The dwarf goby (Pandaka pygmaea)

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measures 1.2 centimeters or less than half of an inch, the tiniest known vertebrate. American Ichthyologist Albert Herre first discovered it in Malabon River in 1925. The Philippines is also the home of sinarapan, the world’s smallest commercial fish. Sinarapan, scientifically known as Mistichthys luzonensis, is a goby found only in Lakes Bato and Buhi in Camarines Sur province.

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