A solenodon on a Cuban collector coin of 1981

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Cuba, 1 peso, 1981.

A solenodon was featured on this collector coin.

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A solenodon.

From Wikipedia:

Solenodons are venomous, nocturnal, burrowing, insectivorous mammals belonging to the family Solenodontidae. The two living solenodon species are the Cuban solenodon (Atopogale cubana) and the Hispaniolan solenodon (Solenodon paradoxus). Threats to both species include habitat destruction and predation by non-native cats, dogs, and mongooses. These were introduced by humans to the solenodons' home islands to control snakes and rodents.

Solenodontidae show retention of primitive mammal characteristics. In 2016 solenodons were confirmed by genetic analysis as belonging to an evolutionary branch that split from the lineage leading to hedgehogs, moles, and shrews before the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.
See:  Wikipedia: solenodon.

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I had never heard of a solenodon before I saw this coin. It just shows that coins can teach you about things that you never knew existed.

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Quite true. BTW, that ending -don also occurs on some extinct saurians, e.g. pteranodon.

I just finished a post mentioning long walls (such as Hadrian's wall in the UK) in Central Asia. Before that, tokens helped me see that we had a precedent to climate change: the industrial revolution. That was not a pretty insight, though. That never-ending educational function is one of the principal attractions of numismatics for me.

Peter