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The Galapagos Pink Land Iguana

Angus Gibb
Apr 5, 2019
2 min read

The Galapagos Pink Land Iguana is rare, endangered species of land Iguana that lives exclusively near the Wolf Volcano on the Galápagos Islands. The iguanas have a pink skin coloration with dark stripes placed vertically across the body. The pink iguanas have large claws on their front and hind legs, but despite their intimidating appearance, their diet consists completely of plants. The iguanas resemble the Galapagos Land Iguana and are actually a genetic divergent of the regular iguanas. The genetic divergent actually happened 5.7 million years ago, and this is the oldest divergent ever recorded on the galapagos islands. These iguanas are critically endangered and there are only about 200 individuals left. The Pink iguana’s main threat is the volcano they live near, Wolf Volcano. Wolf Volcano is an active volcano that occasionally erupts and endangers the population. The lava flow of the volcano usually is on the south side, while the iguanas inhabit the opposite side of the volcano. Another huge threat to the Pink Iguana’s wellbeing is periodic droughts that also diminish the iguana’s water supply. A smaller but still prominent threat is the invasive species in the Pink Iguana’s range. Invasive species like rats and cats threaten the eggs and young of the Pink Iguanas. The only natural predator that the iguana’s actually have is the Galapagos Hawk. Not a lot of conservation have been taken to help the iguanas because we still need to research a lot about them and it is very difficult to do that because of their range and habitat. Although, we have researchers doing periodic checks on the iguanas. Also, a captive breeding project has been proposed to help bump the numbers of the population. Scientists and researchers have also been controlling the numbers of invasive species in the iguana’s range.