Here are those iguanas
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sun 24 Apr 2011 00:56
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As promised, here are some of those Sint Maarten
iguanas.
 This handsome guy is a common or green iguana,
Iguana iguana, which ranges through South and Central America as well
as the Lesser Antilles and grows to nearly 2m. This species is not however
native to St Maarten - but as previously noted in this Blog, green iguanas have
recently naturally colonised islands in the chain - fifteen I. iguana
arrived on Anguilla (see note below) just to the north of St Maarten in 1995
having travelled from Guadeloupe on a vegetation raft. The large dewlap scales
and banded tail visible in the next shot are diagnostic of the
species.
 This one is a juvenile - animals get duller as they
age, starting bright green and ending up slate grey. Iguanas have a complex
repertoire of social behaviour including posturing, head bobbing and dewlap
distension, and a threat display involving gaping and inflation of the
body (that's a lot, if you're a lizard).
There is more where that came from. But I hope
to get a photo of Sint Maarten's native iguana, I.
delicatissima for a future Blog. My last chance because a keen followers of
the story may remember Anguilla is the end of
Iguana's range.
Anguilla note: Unfortunately we shall not be
visiting this long flat island (hence the name) this time. A shame, because it
was the site of one of the odder rebellions in the 1970s. Anguilla was forced by
the UK into a Federation with St Kitts and Nevis during decolonialisation.
Eventually the pot boiled over, and the population physically ejected onto the
ferry the Royal St Kitts and Nevis Police, demanding direct rule from the
UK. A contingent of the Metropolitan Police sent out to keep order was
greeted with flowers (unlike Iraq). Anguilla remains a UK Territory to this
day.
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