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silence was prevalent in a private forest Caribbean The islet was protected until ecologists converted it into a love nest for the critically endangered Lesser Antillean Iguana.
Now, the sounds of iguanas jumping and moving rapidly on the ground are making scientists smile.
“It’s something that’s ours,” said Devon Carter, research officer for the nonprofit. anguilla National Trust. “We don’t have lions, we don’t have elephants, but we need to appreciate what we have.”
The population of the Lesser Antillean iguana, also known as Iguana delicatessima, was at zero on Prickly Pear East Cay about a decade ago.
But scientists in nearby Anguilla, determined to save the species from extinction, sealed 10 iguanas in small, breathable cotton bags and took them by boat out to the bay without any hunters, in the hope they would breed.
And breeding they did. The population has swelled to 300 and counting, turning the cave into one of five sites worldwide where iguanas are trying to make a comeback. According to conservation groups, there are estimated to be fewer than 20,000 species left.
“Prickly Pear East has become a beacon of hope for these beautiful lizards and proves that when we give native wildlife a chance, they know what to do,” said Jenny Daltry, Caribbean Coalition Director of conservation groups Fauna & Flora and Re:Wild.
a lover and an enemy
It is estimated that indigenous peoples arrived in the eastern Caribbean region about 7,000 years ago.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Lesser Antillean iguanas were already there, probably reaching the islands by floating on debris left by rivers that burst their banks in South America.
At the time, iguanas lived on about 10 islands, but they are now extinct on Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, and St. Martin, and have largely disappeared from Guadeloupe, St. Barts, and Martinique, according to the conservation group Re:Wild.
This is the biggest threat? Green, or striped, tailed iguana. Originally from Central and South America, it was introduced to Guadeloupe in the 1800s and then spread to other islands due to Hurricane Luis, which devastated the northeastern Caribbean in 1995.
Green iguanas have more offspring, are more territorial and eat more food than the Lesser Antillean iguana.
But the biggest issue is that both species mate with each other.
“This really jeopardizes genetic viability,” said Isabelle Curtis, conservation officer for the Anguilla National Trust. “If your genetics are weak, your species as a whole cannot continue.”
So in 2015, scientists in Anguilla armed themselves with long poles with a noose on the end to trap Lesser Antillean iguanas and transport them to Prickly Pear East, where there are no dogs, cats, traffic, green iguanas or other deadly threats.
Residents will call or take photos to help in the search.
“We spent a good year looking for iguanas,” recalls Farah Mukhida, executive director of the Anguilla National Trust. “It’s all done by hand.”
life on a new island
After a year, scientists captured 23 Lesser Antillean iguanas in Anguilla, a number believed to be almost the entire population of that species on the island.
The iguanas were genetically tested to make sure they were purebred and then the first 10 were tagged and released into nearby Prickly Pier East, Mukhida said.
Once that population appeared to be well adapted to its new home, scientists released the remaining 13 iguanas.
“We were looking at babies, we were looking at their holes where they were nesting,” Mukhida recalled. “It was really encouraging that they were reproducing.”
Small Antillean iguanas are bright green when young, but turn slate gray or dusty black as adults, and have a lifespan of more than 20 years in the wild.
But despite successful breeding, concerns remained.
Scientists reach out to authorities on eastern Caribbean island Dominica Acquiring more female iguanas to boost the genetic diversity of the lizards bred at Prickly Pier East. Dominica has the largest population of Lesser Antillean iguanas in the region, but they too are now threatened by green iguanas that arrived after Hurricane Maria hit the region in 2017.
The petition was sent during the pandemic, so Carter and other scientists had to quarantine before traveling to Dominica. Once there, they built homes for the captured iguanas, monitored their health, and ran DNA tests to make sure they were not hybrid iguanas.
They fed the iguanas flowers, pumpkins and carrots, although some had to be hand-fed with a syringe, Carter recalled with a laugh.
“They’re the ones you remember the most,” he said, adding that he nicknamed one of them “Green.”
The captured iguanas were taken out of Dominica in a special type of pillow and boxes with lots of holes for breathing and landed in Anguilla, from where they were taken by boat to Prickly Pier East.
Curtis said saving the Lesser Antillean iguana is important to maintain biodiversity: “Each species has a specific function.”
They are now breeding in Prickly Pear East. It remains uninhabited but welcomes sailors to the bay’s only two restaurants, which sell barbecue chicken, ribs and lobster. Iguanas are not on the menu.
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