Green Iguana
By Peyton Gummel
General Information
The Iguana iguana, or Green Iguana, is a reptile native to the rainforests in the Caribbean Islands, Central America, Northern Mexico, and Southern Brazil. The Green Iguana usually weighs 11 pounds and up to 6.6 feet in length. The green iguana, as the name would lead you to believe, is green. However, the darkness of the green can change with the temperature, primarily shown when the iguanas are younger. To tell the difference between the male and female green iguanas, you can look at their dorsal crest, which are the spikes going down their back. Males tend to have sharper crests and larger heads than female green iguanas.
Green iguanas usually live in trees because it provides them protection while being able to lay out in sun. Green iguanas do occasionally live in lower tree canopies when they are younger, but move up higher as they get older. Although green iguanas don't live in water, they prefer to live near water, for they are great swimmers and they can get away from predators quickly by swimming. Green Iguanas eat primarily leafy plants and fruit that is indigenous to the area, but their favorite is the wild plum. This diet relates to the ecosystem by the spread of seeds through their waste. Green iguanas are hunted quite frequently by a multitude of predators, but this does not severely limit the population due to there being an abundance of them. Green iguanas are actually quite common.
Cultural background
The Green iguana can be found various ancient Moche art. The Moche were a civilization on the northern coast of Peru that worshiped a god known as Wrinkle Face. Wrinkle Face is often seen being accompanied by a anthropomorphic iguana. His iguana companion represents the sea and Wrinkle Face represents the Earth along with death. They have been found together on pottery, coffins, and drawings of the Moche people.
Cool Story
If you live in South Florida, there is a high chance that you may be able to find a Green Iguana right in your backyard! However, this is not because these iguanas are native to the area. Irresponsible iguana owners released them into the environment. Luckily, the green iguana is easily adaptable and it eats primarily fruits rather than the animals living in Florida. Although this is good, there were a lot of iguanas released and it caused many problems. For example, since there weren't that many high up trees for the iguanas, they built burrows. These burrows however undermined sidewalks and seawalls. Also, the waste created from the iguanas became a hazardous problem and it could cause diseases such as salmonella. The problem has since died down, but there are still plenty of iguanas living in South Florida right now!
Cool Facts!
Green Iguanas don't chew their food. Instead, they use their tongue to manipulate food into smaller pieces.
Contrary to the name, sometimes the green iguana has blackish stripes or a brownish pattern.
Green Iguanas are super lazy. They hardly come down from their tree except to dig burrows or for females to lay eggs.
Citations
“Green Iguana - Iguana iguana - Details.” Encyclopedia of Life, eol.org/pages/793235/details.
Photograph by Roy Toft, National Geographic Creative. “Green Iguana.” National Geographic, 10 June 2011, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/g/green-iguana/.
Dhwty. “The Mysterious Moche Icon of the Iguana, Companion to the Sky God Wrinkle Face.”Ancient Origins, Ancient Origins, www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/mysterious-moche-icon-iguana-companion-sky-god-wrinkle-face-006233.
Press, Associated. “The 'Reptilian Squirrels' Taking over South Florida: Abandoned Pets Blamed for Explosion in Numbers of Green Iguanas.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 17 Apr. 2017, www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4418658/In-South-Florida-green-iguanas-spread-suburban-scourge.html.