More Iquana Info!

Ms. Barrett,
I saw the video from the school's website, and I got answers to most of the questions.

In the Galapagos, you mainly find the marine iguanas on Santa Cruz, Ferdinadina, Isabela (where the iguanas get to be the largest), Espanola (where the iguanas tend to be the most colorful), and Genovesa (which has the smallest iguanas). They tend to congregate on rocky beaches, although they may choose to stay in marshes or mangroves. Marine iguanas are only found in the Galapagos islands.

The male iguanas are larger, and can be up to 4 feet in length. The males are more colorful, and the colors differentiate according to the island they are from. If they are from Santa Cruz the males tend to be brick red and black on Fernandina, they tend to be brick red and dull green. If they are from the southern islands, they are the most colorful, with the males being bright red and teal. The females are only 2-3 feet and are blackish or greyish. The color in males deepens as they get older.

The marine iguana "sneezes" to get salt out of their noses because many males feed under salt water. There is a gland connected to their nose where the salt water gets expelled from their systems.

The marine iguanas spend time on land only to sleep and warm up. The males feed on algae that is farthest into the water. The record time for being underwater by an iguana is 30 minutes, although most dives only last about 10. The deepest a marine iguana has gone is reported to be 15 feet. Most only go up to 5 feet deep.

Marine iguanas are so inactive on land because the are cold blooded. They lose heat when they feed in water, so they try to get heat or lose heat if they are overheating, and that involves either sitting a while in the sun or staying in the shade. Marine iguanas huddle close together at night to conserve heat. During mating season, the marine iguanas gather a large group of females and they become very aggressive toward the fools who try to intrude on their land!

Marine iguanas are subject to predation. When they are babies, they can be eaten by rodents. When they are young, they can be eaten by feral cats. When they are adults, the sometimes can get eaten by dogs. That is why when they are sunbathing, they get more aggressive to scare predators off so the predators don't chase them because while they are sunbathing, iguanas don't have a lot of heat, therefore they don't have much energy. They are mainly herbivores, surviving off of algae and seaweed.

The marine iguanas claws help them cling on to their underwater feeding sources if there is a current, and climb rock slopes.

Marine iguanas are indifferent to humans, Mostly, humans can approach them without scaring them off. They are more calm on more populated beaches because they spend so much time near humans.

Information courtesy of: www.rit.edu and www.geocornell.edu

Priya
pd.1

Thanks, Priya. Between you and Jeff, we will all be marine iguana experts!