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I have
some relatives in the Grand Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, right now, attending to dear
friend’s nuptials, and I’ve been lucky enough to receive daily updates courtesy
of modern-day technology.
One
such message came through with a beautiful picture of a bright green lizard
resting among the tropical foliage.
“Look
at this lizard!” messaged my relative excitedly, “They’re everywhere here.
There are blue ones, too, but they’re much rarer and you hardly ever see them.”
First,
the idea of a blue lizard was more than a little intriguing to me. Maybe I’m a
little sheltered and naïve when it comes to the world of reptiles, but I kind
of thought that lizards were, by and large, green!
But
something else captured my curiosity even more. Why would the green ones be
“everywhere” while the blue ones are nearly impossible to find? What would
cause that distinction? Why would it be so much more dangerous to be hatched
with blue skin than green skin?
I did
some looking-up and found out that the it’s quite an amazing story.
First,
I should point out that those “lizards” are actually Iguana’s. The blue ones
grow to about 5 feet in length, and the green ones are just short of that, if
you can imagine finding such a creature in your garden. It must be quite a
sight!
Secondly,
you should know the green ones were never supposed to be there!
The
Grand Cayman Islands is the indigenous home of the beautiful Blue Iguana.
Sometimes it`s even known as the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana. These amazing creatures thrived
there quite happily for a long time without any real issue.
Then,
along came peoplekind. And with them came pets. Dogs, kitties and – Green
Iguanas!
Somewhere
along the line, some of these little green pets escaped their humans and made
themselves quite comfy in the local ecosystem where they are now quite
completely settled in as an invasive foreign species. They are the bane of the
government`s existence as programs continue to develop to manage the issue, but
they`re not really what`s causing the Blue Iguana`s headaches.
It`s
those dogs and kitties.
You
see, the Green Iguana comes from Central and South America where there are
plenty of predators. This origin has left the Green Iguana with a natural
instinct for recognizing and dodging threats. In other words, they have a gift
for high-tailing it.
The
Blue Iguana, on the other hand, has spent many, many, MANY generations on the
laid back, relaxed Grand Cayman Island where there wasn`t much to bother it.
When people introduced new and unusual animals, such as dogs and cats, the Blue
Iguana had no idea what they were or what to make of them. Reports are that the
Iguanas will walk right up to a dog or cat and stare at it with no idea that it
might pose a threat, until it`s too late. And, consequently, the Blue Iguana
has become quite the food staple for the local pet population (with the cats
generally taking the younger and smaller Iguanas).
By
2002, there were only 10 – 25 Blue Iguanas left in the wild. They were,
effectively, gone. I wonder how many times we`ll have to go through this before
we figure out that there`s a REASON we`re not to bring foreign animals in to
countries that are not equipped for them. Those rules are there for a very
specific purpose.
Isn`t
it amazing how many of Mother Nature`s beautiful creatures are nearly gone
before many of us even hear they exist?
Thank
goodness for the people who aren’t about to standby and let such a thing
happen!
Through
the hard and generous work of a few dedicated people, and full-fledged recovery
program has been established just for the Blue Iguanas. They’re incubated, fed
and released in a conservation facility in the Queen Elizabeth II Botanical
Park.
Today
there are about 750 Blue Iguanas. Another great recovery story from Mother
Nature!
There’s
still much work to be done, and the Iguanas are not entirely out of the woods
just yet. But it’s an amazing start, and it shows what we can do when our
hearts our in it.
So, if
you’re ever lucky enough to visit the Cayman Islands, keep a sharp eye out for
that flash of bright, vivid blue in the bushes.
Hopefully, there will be a lot more
of those blue flashes in the coming years.
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