Saturday we visited the botanical gardens where the Blue Iguana Sanctuary is located. Some background on the facility/animal can be found here. Basically Blue Iguanas are native to only Grand Cayman (Cyclura lewesi), and they are a morph of another iguana from the Cyclura genus found on Cuba. They are the longest living iguanas, oldest being 69 years old. They used to be plentiful on Grand Cayman until people began to develop the island for human use. Basically we destroyed their habitats and introduced various predatorial species that they could not protect themselves from. They are not good climbers (unlike the Green Iguanas), are creatures of habit (will live in the same one or two trees), and tend to stand still when confronted by a potential threat (versus the Green Iguanas who run at the first sign of Stranger Danger). Between the humans, dogs, cats, snakes, red ants, and rats the population was decimated to about 15 in 2003.
Recovery efforts have increased the population enough to get it off the critically endangered list, but it is still considered an endangered species. The program at the sanctuary is designed to assist these lizards in reproducing successfully and eventually being released into the wild. They have breeding pens that are designed to give the female an acceptable habitat for laying her eggs, and then the caretakers will dig the eggs up and keep them in an incubator until they hatch (about 10 weeks). They have to dig them up because A) fire ants will attack the eggs and B) rats will dig them up and eat them. Without the caretaker's help, maybe 1 or 2 of the ten-twelve eggs will successfully hatch and make it to the surface. With their help, usually all of the eggs survive and move on to be released when they reach a good size.
Once hatched, the babies are moved into the "Head Start" program where they are reared until about a year and a half to two years. When they reach a certain weight and health status, and vet will deem them acceptable for release. This is where the hard part comes in...these guys are really territorial so the caretaker's maintain a chart of where each lizard lives and they try to make sure no close family members live near each other. If close family members (mom/son, brother/sister, etc.) mate, they will produce infertile eggs which is counteractive to the mission. Since the lizards really only produce eggs once a year, it's imperative that they produce healthy, viable eggs each clutch. (how do you like that use of vet speak, Kip?)
Oh, and we learned that Blue Iguanas taste like kerosene and Green Iguanas taste like chicken. Supposedly. That might also be rumor the warden guy was spreading to encourage those desperate enough for food to eat the greens over the blues…
Okay, enough blah blah blah. Onto the pics:
Our guide was a former chef. He used a lot of technical terms like "tastes like kerosene" and "toxitity" and "knocked up".
This was a nest that was currently inhabited by a momma laying eggs. When she finishes she will cover the hole completely masking its location and (hopefully) preventing predators from finding the eggs. Once she's done the babies are on their own.
These are the first step in the Head Start program. Under 1 year olds stay here.
Little Baby
They grow so fast!
And the showdown begins....
Mad Max was freaking awesome. Especially when charging chicks with red toenail polish.
Showing his trademark black feet and spineless dewlap.
Stripeless tail as well. Good lookin boy!
I don't remember this one's name. But I do remember something about him having too small of a penis to properly copulate.
That's gotta suck.
This is an overview of the breeding area. Each iguana has his/her own square, and during breeding season they open the gate between so they can get "knocked up".
Check out his little teeth....just don't underestimate them! Robert Muldoon was telling us he had both of his thumbs broken by the same freaking iguana in the same freaking week.
That iguana also broke his foot and his manhood.
True Story.
I love those spines.
This one takes me back to the days of velociraptors and T-Rex.
A few years ago a pair of wild dogs killed two of the iguanas in the park. This was one of the epitaphs posted above the graves for the lizards. I'm pretty sure the other iguanas leave flowers and candles on the site every year as a memorial. I could still see some wax.
After the tour of the breeding facility Mr. Muldoon took us on a little hike through the rest of the park so we could see some of the animals in the wild. I'm pretty sure I heard a goat bleating in the woods.
This is a dig site for eggs. The mom was sitting just to the side of the hole glaring at the workers. Good thing they work in groups; if there was only one she would have tripped the guy and eaten his eyeballs.
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