Santa Cruz Island
For many years, naturalists in Galapagos were wishing to have a place specially dedicated to the Galapagos land iguanas while visiting the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS). Well, there is good news, the CDRS just a few weeks ago inaugurated a brand new display for land iguanas in their installations. These endemic reptiles are certainly not easy to observe in the wild today. There are not as many of them as there were in the past. The famous naturalist Charles Darwin after his legendary visit to the archipelago in 1835 wrote in his Voyage of the Beagle about the abundance of these reptiles
“ I cannot give a more forcible proof of their numbers, than by stating that when we were left at Santiago Island, we could not for some time find a spot free from their burrows on which to pitch a single tent”
Nowadays the abundance of land iguanas Darwin once described on Santiago is unfortunately over; they are extinct there. On some other islands of the archipelago they are nearly gone as well. When whalers and the first settlers started visiting the archipelago in the early 1800s, they brought with them pigs, goats, cats and other domestic animals. Some of these animals escaped or were abandoned; they became feral, with catastrophic results. Cats hunt the young iguanas, dogs eat adult iguanas, and goats wipe out whole areas of native vegetation.
With this last paragraph I want to reflect on the main reason why we are trying to save land iguanas from extinction with a wonderful program that reflects the concern about these majestic reptiles. Control of introduced animals is also taking place and is a must, to prevent further damage to land iguana populations and their habitats. It is a great place the CDRS has implemented which allows us to explain to our guests about these titanic and encouraging conservation efforts. The program is focused basically on two objectives. One of them is research in order to understand and learn more of the land iguanas’ natural history. The second objective is to breed the land iguanas in captivity and repatriate the young animals to their natural habitats. Their future is in our hands. They are still alive today, but endangered in their own land. For many years the famous giant tortoise rearing and repatriation program was the only one opened in the CDRS for the general public. As an Ecuadorian naturalist and biologist I can tell you that I am feeling sincerely proud that we now can count on an appropriate place to interpret one of the most emblematic species of our unusual and world famous fauna, the Galapagos land iguana.
For many years, naturalists in Galapagos were wishing to have a place specially dedicated to the Galapagos land iguanas while visiting the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS). Well, there is good news, the CDRS just a few weeks ago inaugurated a brand new display for land iguanas in their installations. These endemic reptiles are certainly not easy to observe in the wild today. There are not as many of them as there were in the past. The famous naturalist Charles Darwin after his legendary visit to the archipelago in 1835 wrote in his Voyage of the Beagle about the abundance of these reptiles
“ I cannot give a more forcible proof of their numbers, than by stating that when we were left at Santiago Island, we could not for some time find a spot free from their burrows on which to pitch a single tent”
Nowadays the abundance of land iguanas Darwin once described on Santiago is unfortunately over; they are extinct there. On some other islands of the archipelago they are nearly gone as well. When whalers and the first settlers started visiting the archipelago in the early 1800s, they brought with them pigs, goats, cats and other domestic animals. Some of these animals escaped or were abandoned; they became feral, with catastrophic results. Cats hunt the young iguanas, dogs eat adult iguanas, and goats wipe out whole areas of native vegetation.
With this last paragraph I want to reflect on the main reason why we are trying to save land iguanas from extinction with a wonderful program that reflects the concern about these majestic reptiles. Control of introduced animals is also taking place and is a must, to prevent further damage to land iguana populations and their habitats. It is a great place the CDRS has implemented which allows us to explain to our guests about these titanic and encouraging conservation efforts. The program is focused basically on two objectives. One of them is research in order to understand and learn more of the land iguanas’ natural history. The second objective is to breed the land iguanas in captivity and repatriate the young animals to their natural habitats. Their future is in our hands. They are still alive today, but endangered in their own land. For many years the famous giant tortoise rearing and repatriation program was the only one opened in the CDRS for the general public. As an Ecuadorian naturalist and biologist I can tell you that I am feeling sincerely proud that we now can count on an appropriate place to interpret one of the most emblematic species of our unusual and world famous fauna, the Galapagos land iguana.
