Isla Escudo de Veraguas is a small (3.4 km2) isolated Caribbean island of the Republic of Panama. Despite its name, it is not part of the province of Veraguas, but rather Bocas del Toro. Although located only 17 km from the coastline in the Golfo de los Mosquitos and isolated for only about 9000 years, several animals found on the island are distinct from their mainland counterparts, and two mammal species are recognized as occurring only on the island: the fruit bat Artibeus incomitatus and the sloth Bradypus pygmaeus (also known as the Pygmy Sloth), both of which are considered critically endangered due to their being unique to the small island.[1] Other mammals found on the island include the bats Glossophaga soricina, Micronycteris megalotis, Carollia brevicauda, Myotis riparius, and Saccopteryx leptura, the spiny rat Hoplomys gymnurus, and the opossum Caluromys derbianus.[2]
It is mostly uninhabited but there are a few native campsites on the island, seasonally inhabited by fishermen. Most of the island is in a near-pristine undeveloped state.