10 Pesos Manatee and Zapata Rail

Cuba's endemic Zapata Rail (Cyanolimnas cerverai) was only scientifically described in 1927 and remains one of the least-studied birds in the Western Hemisphere, confined almost entirely to the Zapata Swamp — the largest wetland in the Caribbean. The West Indian Manatee population in Cuban waters had been severely reduced by hunting pressure through the mid-twentieth century, prompting national protection measures that made pairing these two species on a commemorative issue a pointed conservation statement rather than coincidence.