Marine Iguana
Marine Iguanas
Anblyrhynchus Cristatus
The marine iguanas are located on the Galapagos Islands and
are spread over 10 different islands. Ecologists are not sure the population size,
but they are a vulnerable species, well on their way to being endangered. They
are also the only water marine iguanas to roam the earth. One thing I found
very interesting about these creatures are their feeding habit. They eat only
seaweed, and have to quickly eat a few bites before another wave comes crashing
to the shore. The males can dive down and eat seaweed on the ocean floor, but
can only stay down there for about 10 minutes before needing to go back up to
land as they are cold blooded creatures. The mothers nest not on the rocks where
they spend most of their time, but wander further from the water to a sandier
spot where they can make burrows for their young. This makes them very
vulnerable to predators as they can easily be spotted and are not in a group.
The main threat to the species are El Nino effects, pollution in waters, and predators
brought to the island by humans. El Nino effects have to do with climate change,
as there have been connections made showing that climate change has an effect on
El Nino. Some action being taken to protect the Marine Iguana is WWF created “adopt
a iguana”, where money goes towards conservation efforts.
Sources:
(interesting videos on BBC website if you’re interested)
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