Hello again friends! Today I want to introduce you to another of the very most charismatic species of the Galapagos: magical marine iguanas! This was one of the creatures Kent and I were most excited about encountering: these, after all, were the stars of the David Attenborough special we watched together at the very beginning of the KnC adventure!
The Galapagos, once again, delivered encounters beyond our wildest expectations. But we almost missed our very first sighting! Marine iguanas dark coloration allows them to blend in almost perfectly with the ubiquitous lava rock near the coast. That’s why, during our walk to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz, we very nearly didn’t see our first iguana!
From then on out, the highlight reel kept rolling! Just a few hundred meters up the road, national park staff had put a cone up to alert bicycles and pedestrians to a group of littles and their adult supervisor.
After a tour of the Station, we hit the beach – with our new reptilian friends! This is, after all, their natural habitat. Marine iguanas are most often seen basking on warm lava rocks after their dips in the sea. The ‘marine’ part of their name is a big hint about their most interesting habit: they can dive! Up to 30m and for up to an hour at a time, incredibly! These are the only lizards in the world that swim, and they forage for seaweed while underwater.
But why do they do this? The answer lies in the geography of the Galapagos. Santa Cruz and friends are volcanic in origin. Porous lava rock doesn’t allow for the kind of dense tropical growth found elsewhere at this latitude. Biologists speculate that lizards from the mainland floated here from Central or South America, and had to find new sources of food to survive.
These iguanas have more amazing related adaptations, such as the ability to sneeze out salt. I had so hoped we would see them doing this, and whenever we waited around long enough near a basking adult, we did! Too cute!
In addition to hanging out with them on land, it was also incredibly fun to walk on the beach with them. They’re surprisingly swift walkers!
Even cooler: swimming with them! On our first snorkeling tour, we saw a large adult underwater: hooked onto the rock with its long claws while it nipped off bits of seaweed! It was like being transported into a documentary, and elicited possibly the best Kent quote of the trip. Upon surfacing, he told the naturalist guide that we could stop now – he had just seen something he’d always wanted to see and could now go home happy. And this was just day two in the Enchanted Isles 😀
Spending time with the adults, on land or at sea, is a pleasure. They have this unique way of taking up space and arranging their limbs which is completely captivating! They also clearly enjoy their basking time, turning their heads toward the sun and seeming almost to smile.
Finding a creche of baby iguans is another absolute delight!
Although there’s approximately a thousand of them in view at any moment on any Galapagos island coastline, they are a species at risk. They are badly affected by El Nino weather patterns, which causes an indigestible red seaweed to flourish instead of the more nutritious green type. Like the tortoises and finches, they too are vulnerable to introduced predators (rats, cats, etc.) and human impacts. You can learn more about marine iguanas, and the threats they face, with a visit to this website.
I loved meeting marine iguanas in the Galapagos! It always seemed to me like they were posing for my pictures, and they’re extremely photogenic with their colorful highlights and fun mohawk ‘hairdos’! I’m a long way from these funky friends now – but just looking at them makes my day brighter. I hope it does yours, too!