Blue Iguana
The orange and blue beads on this one's neck are most likely part of a tracking device for the recovery program.
Scientific Name: Cyclura lewisi
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Iguanidae
Genus: Cyclura
The Blue Iguana is also known as the Grand Cayman Iguana, because it is native solely to Grand Cayman Island.
These iguanas almost went extinct back in 2003. It is estimated that there were only 15 of these lizards left in existence at that time. A recovery program has been implemented and the population is now estimated at over 290 lizards.
Their scleras (the pare of the eye that is white in humans) are red. They are lighter and less blue when at rest. Their feet are much darker than their legs. They turn a brighter blue – the males especially – when trying to find a mate.
Blue Iguanas are designed with what is known as a parietal eye. The purpose of this eye is not sight. It is a white photosensory organ on the top of its head, which detects movement and is sensitive to changes in light intensity.
Average Body Length: 20-30 in. (51-76 cm.)
Average Tail Length: 20-30 in. (51-76 cm.), equal to its body length.
Average Weight: 25-30 pounds (11.3-13.6 kg)
Babies: The mother iguana lays anywhere from 1-21 eggs in June or July in a nest she has carefully dug in just the right place in the soil. She'll often start on a nest and then change her mind, move, and start another nest until she's made one she likes. After she lays the eggs, she covers them up with soil. These nests are about 1 ft. (30.5 cm.) below ground.
When the babies are ready to hatch (65-100+ days after they're laid), they can take 12 hours to tear through the leathery egg with their egg tooth.
According to the Blue Iguana Recovery Program website, after the baby iguanas hatch, they store what is left of their egg's yolk in their abdomen and can live off of it for weeks before they'll need to eat or drink anything.
These iguanas are sometimes old enough to be parents at 2½ years old, but it is more common for them to be 3-4 years old before their first babies hatch.
Life Span: The Blue Iguana is one of the longest-living species of lizard. The average life span is estimated to be somewhere around 50 years. The record is 67 years.
Diet: Mainly fruit and plants, but also fungus and crabs.
Home: Cavities in rocks and trees.
There are many different species of iguanas. Blue Iguanas (below left) vary from the more common Green Iguanas (below right) – which are probably the ones that come to mind when you think “Iguana” – in several ways, including the following:
-Blue Iguanas do not have spines down along the flap of skin under their chin as Green Iguanas do.
-Blue Iguanas have what look like little horns on their cheeks, whereas Green Iguanas have a flat sort of plate back toward their necks with smaller plates surrounding it.
The orange and blue beads on this one's neck are most likely part of a tracking device for the recovery program.
Scientific Name: Cyclura lewisi
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Iguanidae
Genus: Cyclura
The Blue Iguana is also known as the Grand Cayman Iguana, because it is native solely to Grand Cayman Island.
These iguanas almost went extinct back in 2003. It is estimated that there were only 15 of these lizards left in existence at that time. A recovery program has been implemented and the population is now estimated at over 290 lizards.
Their scleras (the pare of the eye that is white in humans) are red. They are lighter and less blue when at rest. Their feet are much darker than their legs. They turn a brighter blue – the males especially – when trying to find a mate.
Blue Iguanas are designed with what is known as a parietal eye. The purpose of this eye is not sight. It is a white photosensory organ on the top of its head, which detects movement and is sensitive to changes in light intensity.
Average Body Length: 20-30 in. (51-76 cm.)
Average Tail Length: 20-30 in. (51-76 cm.), equal to its body length.
Average Weight: 25-30 pounds (11.3-13.6 kg)
Babies: The mother iguana lays anywhere from 1-21 eggs in June or July in a nest she has carefully dug in just the right place in the soil. She'll often start on a nest and then change her mind, move, and start another nest until she's made one she likes. After she lays the eggs, she covers them up with soil. These nests are about 1 ft. (30.5 cm.) below ground.
When the babies are ready to hatch (65-100+ days after they're laid), they can take 12 hours to tear through the leathery egg with their egg tooth.
According to the Blue Iguana Recovery Program website, after the baby iguanas hatch, they store what is left of their egg's yolk in their abdomen and can live off of it for weeks before they'll need to eat or drink anything.
These iguanas are sometimes old enough to be parents at 2½ years old, but it is more common for them to be 3-4 years old before their first babies hatch.
Life Span: The Blue Iguana is one of the longest-living species of lizard. The average life span is estimated to be somewhere around 50 years. The record is 67 years.
Diet: Mainly fruit and plants, but also fungus and crabs.
Home: Cavities in rocks and trees.
There are many different species of iguanas. Blue Iguanas (below left) vary from the more common Green Iguanas (below right) – which are probably the ones that come to mind when you think “Iguana” – in several ways, including the following:
-Blue Iguanas do not have spines down along the flap of skin under their chin as Green Iguanas do.
-Blue Iguanas have what look like little horns on their cheeks, whereas Green Iguanas have a flat sort of plate back toward their necks with smaller plates surrounding it.
-Blue Iguanas' tails are solid in color, Green Iguanas' tails have dark bands across them.-Both have spines running along their backbones, but the Green Iguanas' spines are long and scraggly compared to the Blue's shorter, straiter, more uniform spines.
-The Blue Iguana is also slightly larger than the Green.
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Photo credits in order:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyclura_lewisi_-Queen_Elizabeth_II_Botanic_Park,_Grand_Cayman,_Cayman_Islands-8_(1).jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Iguana_in_tree.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyclura_lewisi_-Grand_Cayman,_Cayman_Islands-8.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iguana_iguana.jpg
Some information included in this article taken from:
http://www.blueiguana.ky/
http://www.blueiguanapestcontrol.com/iguana-facts.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_iguana
http://www.arkive.org/cayman-island-blue-iguana/cyclura-lewisi/
http://www.blueiguana.ky/
http://www.blueiguanapestcontrol.com/iguana-facts.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_iguana
http://www.arkive.org/cayman-island-blue-iguana/cyclura-lewisi/
Copyright © 2012 Joanna Corley & Dabble Magazine, LLC.
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