The lush vegetation provides shelter for a wide variety of animals, particularly for the island’s many species of birds. In addition, Grand Etang is populated by plenty of frogs and lizards, as well as playing host to opossums, armadillos, mongoose, and the Mona monkey.
Mona Monkey (Cercopithecus mona denti) -is an Old World monkey that lives in western Africa between Ghana and Cameroon. The Mona monkey can also be found on the island of Grenada as it was transported to the island aboard slave ships headed to the New World during the 18th century. This guenon lives in groups of up to thirty-five in forests. It mainly feeds on fruit, but sometimes eats insects and leaves. The Mona monkey has brown agouti fur with a white rump. Its tail and legs are black, and the face is blue-grey with a dark stripe across the face. The Mona monkey carries food in cheek pouches.
Birds – The broad winged hawk (known here as the gree-gree), Lesser Antillean swift, Antillean euphonia, purple throated carib, Antillean crested hummingbird (known as the Doctor Bird) and the Lesser Antillean tanager (known as the soursop) are all common sights. Avifauna (birds of this habitat) at the lake include ospreys (Pandion haliaetus), herons (fam. Ardeidae), spotted sandpipers (Actitis macularia) and Caribbean coots (Fulica caribaea), which use the lake for feeding. There is no recorded evidence that bird species use the vegetation of the Grand Etang Lake for nesting.
Other game species– are often found in the forested area of the watersheds and includes the Ramier (Columba squamosa), Manicou (Didelphis marsupialis insularis), Tatou (Dasypus novemcinctus) and Agouti (Dasyprocta sp.).
The ‘Grenada Frog’ Pristimantis euphronides (formerly Eleutherodactylus euphronides). The shore of Grand Etang is the place where this 3-4 cm small frog has been discovered in 1961, and the described for science in 1967 (Schwartz 1967). This frog is endemic to Grenada and only occurs in central and southeast Grenada at elevations higher than 300 m, and hence represents a regional natural heritage of special importance. Therefore, it is suggested to use this species as a flagship species for nature conservation and nature tourism in Grenada. The species has also been classified as ‘endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).