Sir Richard Branson's 74 acre private island in the British Virgin Islands, Necker Island, is known for its luxury accommodations, beautiful views and celebrity guests. But once you get there, there's another element of the surroundings that quite literally jumps out at you: its exotic wildlife.
Necker Island is home to at least 140 different species. On a given day, visitors can see everything from lemurs to tortoises to macaws and even flamingos.
While the island has many creatures that are part of the area's diverse tropical environment, some animals were brought in by Branson as a way to repopulate the Caribbean with species that have become nearly extinct in the region, mostly due to human behavior such as hunting or development.
When we visited the island last year, we got a glimpse of some of the beautiful wildlife of Necker up close.
Disclosure: We were flown out to Necker Island, BVI by Virgin Limited Edition, which covered our travel and lodging expenses.
Ring-tailed lemurs are one of the signature animals of Necker. Branson has brought them to the island as a way to conserve the species that is threatened by deforestation in their native Madagascar.
The lemurs are kept in their own part of the island which is enclosed by an electric fence.
They spend some time in cages...
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