0 Blue Iguana

 

Animal Unique | Blue Iguana | The Blue Iguana or Grand Cayman Iguana is a critically endangered species of lizard of the genus Cyclura endemic to the island of Grand Cayman. The Blue Iguana prefers to live in rocky, sunny, open areas in dry forests or near the coast, as the females must dig holes in the sand to lay eggs in June and July. Their species name, lewisi, comes from the naturalist who first wrote about them, Bernard C. Lewis. Even back in 1938, Lewis understood their rarity, saying that he doubted more than a dozen, also lived on the island. Blue Iguanas live naturally in only one location, Grand Cayman, a 76 square mile island in the Caribbean Sea. These iguanas are also one of the longest living species of lizard, with the oldest on record to die at age 69.

Scientific classification
Kingdom:     Animalia
Phylum:     Chordata
Class:     Reptilia
Order:     Squamata
Family:     Iguanidae
Genus:     Cyclura
Species:     C. lewisi

The Blue Iguana is a large iguana with a total nose-to-tail length of 1.5 m and a weight of less than 14 kg. Its body length is 51-76 cm with a tail equal in length. The Blue Iguana's toes are articulated to be effective in digging and climbing trees. The male is larger than the female, one third of its body weight. The adult male skin color ranges from dark blue to turquoise, while the female is more olive green to light blue. Young animals are usually uniformly dark brown or green with faint dark stripes. The adult Blue Iguana is generally dark gray corresponds to the limestone rock of the landscape. The animal changes color to blue when in the presence of other iguanas to give up territory. The blue color is more pronounced in the males of the species. Their distinctive black feet, unlike their lighter body color. Male Blue Iguanas have distinctive femoral pores, which are used to release pheromones.

The Blue Iguana's eyes a golden iris and red sclera. They have excellent vision, which allows them to detect shapes and movements over the long haul. As Blue Iguanas have only a few rod cells, they have poor visibility in low light. Simultaneously, they have cells called "double cones" them sharp color vision and enable them to see ultraviolet wavelengths. Blue Iguanas have developed a sensory organ white photo on the top of their heads called the parietal eye. This "eye" in the same way as a normal eye work as only a rudimentary retina and lens, and therefore can not images. However, it is sensitive to changes in light and dark and can detect motion.

 

Like most iguanas, Blue Iguanas are herbivores. The Blue Iguana is primarily herbivorous, consuming leaves, flowers and fruits from more than 45 species of plants. This diet is very rarely supplemented with insect larvae, crabs, snails, dead birds and fungi. Studies show that their diet 45 different plant species, of which 80% of their total consumption of leaves, and the remaining 20% ​​fruit brings. These iguanas are solitary animals, with females guarding an area and the men switch between multiple locations. During the breeding season, males try and expand their product range includes as many female territories as possible. Females stop eating to make room for the eggs they lay 20ish. Iguanas, like most reptiles, do not help in raising their young.

With support from Durrell and other international partners, the Blue Iguana Recovery Program successfully breeding the iguanas in captivity since 1990, and began the reintroduction of wildlife. The recovery plan for the Blue Iguana seeks at least a thousand people tried to restore the protected areas.Blue Iguanas have suffered tremendously from the clearing of the land that once supplied their needs - a relatively low open vegetation that sufficient light and warmth (canopy casts too much shade), enough native vegetation to a continuous food supply, rocks provide shelter and soil to nest in.

Habitat destruction is the main factor threatening imminent extinction for this iguana. Grubbing within remnant habitat occurs in agriculture, road construction, and real estate development and speculation. Conversion of traditional crops, pasture land for cattle is also eliminating secondary Blue Iguana habitat. Predation by rats and injury to young, to young and sub-adults by feral cats and dogs roaming by killing adults are all placing great pressure on the remaining wild population. Education programs have been the people of the Cayman Islands very proud of their largest native animal, and help reduce confusion with the common green iguana, which was introduced to the islands. The captive breeding project aims 80 animals after one year and more protected areas are established to keep the growing population.

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Detail: Blue Iguana

0 Green Iguana

 

Animal Unique | Green Iguana | The Green iguana is undoubtedly one of the most popular pet reptile world. Green iguana or Common iguana is a large tree herbivorous lizards of the genus Iguana. Green iguanas come from the rainforests of northern Mexico to southeastern Brazil, where temperatures and humidity are high. Green iguanas inhabit most tropical forests near water, although they avoid areas of the deep woods where the sun can not reach the ground to the nest to breed. Often found in captivity as pets because of his quiet nature and the bright colors, the demanding to ensure well. Space requirements and the need for special lighting and heat can prove challenging to an amateur hobbyist.

 

Scientific classification

Kingdom:     Animalia

Phylum:     Chordata
Class:     Reptillia
Order:     Squamata
Family:     Iguanidae
Genus:     Iguana
Species:     I. iguana

Despite their name, Green iguanas come in different colors. They can appear bluish in color with bold black markings. They can range from green to lavender, black, red and even pink. Can the young bright blue as baby. Green iguana possess a row of spines along their backs and along the tail which helps to protect them from predators. Their whip-like tails can be used to deliver painful strikes and like many other lizards, when grabbed by the tail, the Green iguana can allow to break, so it can escape and possibly regenerate a new one. Green iguanas have a excellent vision, allowing them to detect shapes and motions at long distances. They can detect movement of the sensitivity to changes in light and dark. This helps the Green iguana when being stalked by predators from above.

Green iguanas have very sharp teeth capable of shredding leaves and even human skin. These teeth are shaped like a leaf, broad and flat, with teeth on edge. The similarity of these teeth with those of one of the first dinosaurs discovered led to the dinosaur was named Iguanodon, meaning "iguana tooth", and the mistaken assumption that it had looked like a giant iguana. The teeth are located inside the jawbone which is why they are difficult to see in smaller specimens. The Green iguana is either flaky skin is evenly colored, or bears blackish brown stripes and a contrasting pattern. Prominent large, round scales are present on the lower jaw in the clearly visible eardrum. Male Green iguanas could be distinguished from females by the more pronounced spiny crest and large head, the more noticeable femoral pores, and the wider cloacal opening.

 

When frightened by a predator, Green iguanas will attempt to flee, and if near a body of water, they dive in and swim away. If cornered by a threat, the Green iguana to expand and give the skin under the throat, neck, stiffen and puff on his body, noise, and Bob his head on the aggressor. If the threat continues iguana may whip its tail, bite and use its claws in defense. The wounded are more inclined to fight than uninjured prey. Green iguanas being attacked by hawks and their fear of hawks is exploited as a trick to catch them in the wild. Green iguanas are primarily herbivores, feeding on leaves, flowers, fruits, and shoots growing from over 100 different types plant. Although they will have a wide variety of foods to consume if offered, Green iguana are naturally herbivores and require a precise ratio of minerals in their diet. Juvenile Green iguana often eat feces from adults to acquire the essential microflora to their low quality and difficult to digest vegetarian diet alone process.

 

Throughout Latin America, the Green iguana is hunted for its beautiful, commercially valuable skin, meat and eggs valued. It is one of the neotropical reptiles most hunted for food, feeding the family or for sale, and is slain by guns or captured by dogs. They will also be live-trapped, newly hatched iguanas can be exported for the pet trade, while the females captured can be cut open to retrieve the eggs and then released. The Moche people of ancient Peru worshiped animals and often depicted Green iguanas in their art. The Green Iguana and the relative the Black iguana were used as a food source in Central and South America in the past 7000 years. It is possible that a proportion of the population in the Caribbean were translocated from the mainland by various tribes as a food source. In Central and South America, Green iguanas are still used as a source of meat and are often referred to as the Gallina palo, "bamboo chicken" or "chicken of the tree," because they are reportedly tastes like chicken.

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Detail: Green Iguana

0 Iguana

 

Animal Unique | Iguana | Iguana is a herbivorous species of lizard native to tropical regions of Central America and the Caribbean. The word "Iguana" is derived from a Spanish form of the original Taino name for the species' Iwana ". The family Iguanidae includes all lizards popularly called "iguana". There are eight groups called genera within the family Iguanidae. Two species are listed in the genus Iguana: Green Iguana, which is widespread throughout its range and a popular pet, and the Lesser Antillean Iguana, which is endemic to the Lesser Antilles and endangered due to habitat destruction.

 

Scientific classification
Kingdom:     Animalia
Phylum:     Chordata
Class:     Sauropsida
Order:     Squamata
Suborder:     Iguania
Family:     Iguanidae
Genus:     Iguana, Laurenti, 1768

The two species of lizards of the genus Iguana possess a dewlap, a row of spines turn their backs to their tails, and third 'eye' on their heads. This eye is known as the parietal eye, visible as a small scale at the top of the head. Behind their neck are small scales which resemble spikes, known as tuberculate scales. These scales are a variety of colors and are not always visible at close range. They have a large round scale on their cheek known as a shield subtympanic.

 

 

Iguanas have excellent vision and can form, shadow, color and movement can be seen over the long haul. Iguanas use their eyes to navigate through crowded forests, as well as for finding food. They use visual signals to communicate with other members of the same species. The tympanum is the iguana's ear drum, and is located above and behind the eye shield subtympanic. Iguanas are often difficult to recognize because they tend to blend into their surroundings. Their size, colors are a way to hide from larger predators. Male iguanas, like other male members of the order Squamata, have two hemipenes.

 

 

The wooded areas where iguanas live with increasing depletion. Trees felled for export and for a growing world. Iguanas and other reptiles are part of a multi-billion dollar international trade in wildlife due to the increasing demand for foreign or rare plants, animals and objects such as skins. Green iguanas are classified as "endangered" and are included in Annex II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This means that exporters and importers must have special permits for the reptiles to move across international borders. Buying and owning iguanas is legal once they reach their destination.

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Detail: Iguana

0 Marine Iguana

Animal Unique | Marine Iguana | The Marine Iguanas are an iguana only on the Galapagos Islands, which has the ability, unique among modern lizards to live and forage in the sea, making it a reptile. The  Marine Iguanas can dive over 10 meters in the water. It has spread to all islands in the archipelago, and is sometimes called the Galapagos Marine Iguana. They live on the rocky coast, Galapagos, but can also be spotted in marshes and mangrove beaches.

Scientific classification
Kingdom:     Animalia
Phylum:     Chordata
Class:     Sauropsida
Order:     Squamata
Suborder:     Iguania
Family:     Iguanidae
Genus:     Amblyrhynchus
Species:     A. cristatus

Marine Iguanas are the world's only seagoing lizards, iguanas and a gray to black with pyramid-shaped dorsal (top) scales. They differ from land iguanas through their short, blunt snout and slightly laterally compressed tail efficiently this lizard moves along the surface or under water. Young people have a light stripe along the back. The long, sharp, recurved claws allow the lizard to stick to the lava in heavy seas or when submerged.

Like many lizards,  Marine Iguanas are often bask in the sun. This species should be warm body after swimming in cold water from the ocean in search of food, because reptiles do not have the ability to thermoregulate. Their dark color allows them to quickly absorb heat. When their body temperature is low, these animals move slowly and thus a greater risk from predators. To counter this vulnerability,  Marine Iguanas shows a very aggressive behavior to bluff her way to escape.

The  Marine Iguanas is dependent on its marine environment and is therefore equipped with a nasal glands to excrete excess salt. For feeding the  Marine Iguanas to raise its body temperature to about 36 ° C . These iguanas are ectotherms and can lose up to 10 ° C when outside in the ocean. To regulate their body temperature they must bask in the sun for a long time.

 
Marine Iguanas are herbivores that mainly feed on marine algae. Adults often feed on large, often diving at high tide. Dives are usually shallow, from 1.5 to 5 m outside, but large adults dive to a depth of 15 m or more. Dive times are typically only a few minutes, but there are reports of  Marine Iguanas underwater for more than half hour. Young feed in the intertidal zone at low tide. 

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Detail: Marine Iguana