The blue iguana is endemic to the island of Grand Cayman. It was previously considered to be a subspecies of the Cuban iguana, Cyclura nubila. Fewer than 15 animals remained in the wild by 2003, and this wild population was predicted to become extinct within the first decade of the 21st century. The species’ decline is mainly being driven by predation by cats and dogs.
About Blue iguana in brief
The blue iguana is endemic to the island of Grand Cayman. It was previously considered to be a subspecies of the Cuban iguana, Cyclura nubila. Fewer than 15 animals remained in the wild by 2003, and this wild population was predicted to become extinct within the first decade of the 21st century. The species’ decline is mainly being driven by predation by cats and dogs, and indirectly by reduction in suitable habitat as fruit farms are converted to pasture for cattle grazing. At least five non-profit organizations are working with the government of the Cayman Islands to ensure the survival of the blue iguanas. Its specific name lewisi commemorates the name of the scientist who collected the holotype of this species, Charles Bernard Lewis. The closest relatives are theCuban iguana and the Northern Bahamian rock iguana. It can be genetically distinguished from the subspecies found on Little Cayman and Cayman Brac known as C. nubilia caymanensis, although it can interbreed with this subspecies and produce fertile offspring. It is large and heavy-bodied with a dorsal crest of short spines running from the base of the neck to the end of the tail. Its color is tan to gray with a bluish cast that is more pronounced during the breeding season and more so in males. Since 2004, hundreds of captive-bred animals have been released into a preserve on Grand Caymen run by a partnership headed by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, in an attempt to save the species. In his 2004 article Frederick Burton repeatedly states Schwartz and Carey reclassified it in a 1977 publication, but he is mistaken.
Burton, who runs the captive breeding program on the island, reclassified the blueIguana as a distinct species in 2004. Although it has almost identical head scale counts and patterns as the C. Nubila nubila, most individuals of this taxon often have five auricular spines in as opposed to four in cay manensis. Although all three taxa hatch with the same color, as they grow older, the other taxa can be more variable in color, although this characteristic is not reliable in many circumstances, such as rainy weather. Burton states there is at least 108 kilometres separating the forms, which he interpreted to mean that the populations were reproductively isolated, despite there being no reproductive barriers between the populations. Although the different populations did have different haplotypes, there was some ambiguity, although the sample was extremely small and there was very small. Lastly, Burton states that this was likely a mistaken sighting during rainy weather in 1940, but this was made during a rainy weather event. The iguana was possibly abundant before European colonization; but fewer than 15 animals remained in the island by 2003, and this wild population was predicted to become extinct in the next decade of 21st century. The preferred habitat for the blue Iguana is rocky, sunlit, open areas in dry forests or near the shore.
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This page is based on the article Blue iguana published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 02, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
