Reptiles

Like a couple of other animals, the Galapagos iguanas made there way to Galapagos on rafts of vegetation, like many of the animals on Galapagos. There are three different species, the marine lizard, the pink lizard, and the yellow lizard, that has two subspecies. The estimated divergence between the land and marine iguana was about 10.5 million. We think that they originated from one ancestor, maybe a pregnant female, or a male and female. The other land iguana, a pink subspecies diverged 5.7 million years ago. That is also about the time the currant islands were forming. The two different species of yellow iguanas diverged quite recently. Here's more on yellow iguanas. They are about three feet long, and the males are about 30 pounds, they live in burrows underground, and they eat cacti. The pink and yellow iguanas have a symbiotic relationship with Darwin's Finches. They raise themselves of the ground and the finches pick bugs and ticks off them. They can live up to 50 years of age. They were attacked by introduced and invasive wild dogs and sometimes cats, getting so severe it threatened extinction. They saved that species by moving some of them to a new island. There was a problem because they would not breed, but that was solved by moving some soil and creating an artificial breeding ground. They also had trouble with feral goats #Galapagoats! (see Odds and Ends), but it is serious, and they are introduced and an invasive species, with a rapidly growing population. The Baltra (an island on Galapagos) is the home of the largest iguanas. A breeding and rearing center was started in the 1980's and iguanas were brought there from North Seymour, an island where the population was suffering as well. Once the young iguanas were ready they were relocated and released in Baltra. It was June 1991, 35 iguanas were released onto the island. Currently, 420 iguanashave been introduced onto the island. Both islands have good and increasing populations. It was a success and ended in 2008. There are also cat control programs to help. Now, the Galapagos Marine Iguana.

The Marine Iguana eats seaweed, and the are almost everywhere along the coast. They are amazingly adapted to living in the ocean. They are cold-blooded, so they developed black scales. At first the iguanas could not hold their breath; but over time, they evolved and developed the ability to hold their breath for up to 50 minutes! Many other adaptations occurred to the this specific species of iguanas. There snouts got in the way, so they developed shortened ones. They had trouble with too much saline, so they developed a way to expel it out of their nose. They were not good swimmers, so they became great swimmers by developing better limbs and tail for swimming, and so much more. They are one of the animals I think is the most amazing, on Galapagos. If there is not enough food, they will not only get thinner, they will get shorter. To adapt to the unpredictable weather of the Galapagos islands the iguanas can partially sustain themselves on their own bodies. Because of that they switch from growing to shrinking several time in their lives. Now, the Galapagos tortoise, the symbol of the Galapagos. In fact, the Galapagos was named after them. Galapagos means saddle, describing their back. Unfortunately, now they are found in only in two places. It is thought and it makes sense that they drifted to the Galapagos in the first place on their shells. There are two known breeds the Domed Carapace and the Saddleback Carapace. The Domed Carapace is the most similar to their ancestral form, which they evolved from. They also enjoy mud. They can survive up to a year with no food or water. That is a curse more than a blessing though, because they were hunted a while ago for fresh meat on ships. They did not need to be cared for to survive for long periods of time. Three species have been extinct for sometime, and another one just lost its last member Lonesome George. He was the last Pinta tortoise and died June 2012. He lived 40 years in captivity of his 100 year life span and was very happy (see Odds and Ends). Today there is about 20,000 to 25,000 tortoises living on the island. They also had trouble with #Galapagoats and some other invasive species. The trouble was helped a bit. They are what you would call “LAZY!”, sleeping only 16 hours a day. They store water in their bladder and males loudly groan to mating season (actually for mating season). Badly exerting themselves, the raise their head for dominance, and need the rest of the year to recover. The content highlighted is semi-untruthful and exaggerated. Mostly. Anyways, they also raise their necks to have Darwin’s Finches pick bugs and ticks off. That concludes Reptiles. Oh and if I said lizards by mistake, I meant iguana.