Jamaican iguana

Description

The Jamaican iguana (Cyclura collei), also known commonly as Colley's iguana, is a large species of lizard in the family Iguanidae. The species is endemic to Jamaica. It is critically endangered, even considered extinct between 1948 and 1990. Once found throughout Jamaica and on the offshore islets Great Goat Island and Little Goat Island, it is now confined to the forests of the Hellshire Hills. According to Sir Hans Sloane, a physician and botanist who visited Jamaica in 1688, iguanas were once common throughout Jamaica. The Jamaican iguana declined dramatically during the second half of the 19th century, after the introduction of the small Asian mongoose as a form of rat and snake control, until it was believed to exist only on the Goat islands near the Hellshire hills. The Jamaican iguana was believed to be extinct in 1948. A dead adult specimen was found in 1970. The species was rediscovered in August 1990 when a live adult male iguana was chased into a hollow log by a dog of Edwin Duffus, a hog hunter in the Hellshire Hills. By the time he got there, the dog had injured the animal but that was the iguana that was taken to the Hope Zoo. A remnant population was discovered soon after. The Hellshire Hills area is the only area of Jamaica where this iguana is found. It is relegated to two dense populations that consist of scattered individuals. They were once prevalent in the island but are now only found in the dry, rocky, limestone forest areas of St. Catherine. Before it was rediscovered in 1990, the iguana was last seen alive on Goat Island off the coast of Jamaica in 1940. Like all Cyclura species the Jamaican iguana is primarily herbivorous, consuming leaves, flowers and fruits from over 100 different plant species. This diet is very rarely supplemented with insects and invertebrates such as snails. However, these could simply be eaten incidentally while it consumes the leaves the invertebrates live on. The specific name, collei, is in honor of someone named Colley. John Edward Gray, who originally described this species in 1845, referred to it as "Colley's Iguana". Unfortunately, Gray did not further specify who Colley was.