Anegada, and another gripping installment of the neverending/endless lizard saga
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Fri 1 Apr 2011 11:28
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This one is especially for Arthur
Ashcroft.
Stupidly I did not take the chance to photograph
the iguanas further south, in the Windward and Leeward Islands. However readers
may recall that two iguana species of the genus Iguana have colonised
many of the islands having arrived, it is thought, by floating vegetation raft
during storms - Barbuda is known to have been colonised this way very recently.
Iguana occurs naturally as far north as Anguilla, but from the BVIs
onwards a different genus is present - although Iguana has
unfortunately been deliberately introduced by man to several
islands.
The native iguanas from the BVIs west to Cuba and
north to the Bahamas are of the genus Cyclura, and there are
many species. They clearly arrived in the area when the sea level was much lower
and many of the islands were joined (the BVIs, USVIs, and Puerto Rico were all
one island, for example); animals were trapped on higher ground as sea levels
rose and have subsequently evolved into different species.
On Anegada, and nowhere else in the
world, lives the critically endangered Anegada Rock Iguana, Cyclura
pinguis. It is known from Pleistocene cave deposits in Puerto Rico but
is thought to have become restricted to Anegada before the arrival of humans in
the island chain some 10 000 years ago. Only a couple of hundred survive in
the wild.
Unfortunately it is suffering badly from predation
by feral cats which like nothing better than a tasty baby iguana, and
competition for food from cattle and donkeys. So a 'Headstart' programme
has been introduced - hatchling iguanas are kept in cages for two years
until big enough to fend for themselves. This has been very successful, allowing
lizards to be released on to three other BVI islands where they are flourishing,
as well as release back into the wild on Anegada itself.
And now, just to prove that despite
observations to the contrary by some churlish readers, I do know how to
show a girl a good time, here is Alison enjoying a day out at the lizard
cages behind the police station. Just out of shot to the right is the local
policeman's stock of clothes hanging on the line to dry, and on the right the
back of the fire station. Location, location, location.
 And here are the starsof this lengthy Blog -
juvenile Anegada Rock Iguanas enjoying a cat-free childhood to the full. The
future for them at least looks rather good.
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