St. Lucian Green Iguana

Adult male Saint Lucian iguanas are something to behold. Light grey with thick black bands from neck to tail, they hardly resemble their green mainland cousins. Saint Lucia was formally named Iyanola or "Island of the Iguanas" by the Amerindians, implying that there were once many iguanas. Today, fewer than 1000 adult animals are believed to remain and the majority of Saint Lucian's have never even seen a wild iguana.

Since 2002, researchers have been studying the Saint Lucian Iguana to determine causes of decline and develop solutions for monitoring and safeguarding iguanas. IIF has provided support from the very start. Education efforts were initiated immediately with posters developed and distributed to teachers and to communities in areas near to where iguanas live. Teacher meetings were held and iguana exhibits at the government run Zoo were renovated to ensure the health of those animals.

We've learned that sand mining and tourist use has made many ocean-side nesting sites inhospitable to iguanas. Now, there are only two known nest sites. At these sites unleashed dogs kill nesting females and mongoose and cats attack hatchlings. Iguanas are also under attack in their dry-forest habitat, where males live year-round and females live for all but a few weeks out of the year when they migrate to nest. In the forests, illegal hunting by humans and unleashed dogs has added pressure on the populations.

Indeed, population density is so low that surveying for iguanas in the forest has proved unproductive. Research is therefore based at the nesting beaches. Here females can be fitted with radio transmitters and followed back to their forested home ranges. Nesting information is collected throughout the season and population estimates are made based on number of nesting females. Hatchlings are also surveyed and preliminary radiotracking of these animals has been performed.
 

Signs are now posted to inform people that the iguanas live in protected areas and dogs must be leashed. Researcher presence has undoubtedly contributed  to compliance to this rule. Research teams include locally employed individuals who have been a tremendous asset in the field and in educating fellow Saint Lucians. Plans have been developed to involve local communities even more by having parent-teacher teams develop curricula for their students in a series of guided town meetings. Town meetings are an important cultural happening in Saint Lucia and a great way to investigate ideas and concerns together. Grants are being sought for this yet unfunded aspect of the project.

Download the St Lucia Iguana Project 2004 - Report to the International Iguana Foundation by Karen Graham and Matthew Morton HERE - PDF 2.36Mb

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