Land Iguana Burrow

CDF: Thanks for that interesting information!

Thanks for putting this up, Jill! Behind these unspectacular holes in the ground there is a great story. Quote from the Galapgos National Park site:

Cerro Dragon "gets its name because in 1975, it was one of the only places on Santa Cruz Island where a small , but healthy, population of Land Iguanas (Conolophus subcristatus) existed. That same year, the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation initiated a program to save these and othe Land Iguana populations from extinction. The iguanas on North Seymour, in Cartago Bay (Isabela Island) and in Cerro Dragon (Santa Cruz Island) were studied and then transported to pens especially designed for these animals to breed in captivity. By 1979 the first iguana were born in caprtiity.

In the case of Cerro Dragon the entire remaining iguana population was transported to Venice Islet (very close to Santa Cruz) to keep it away from the feral dogs which in those days abounded in that area. Even soil was transported from of Cerro Dragon to the islet to create an appropriate environment for nesting. It also was necessary to separate the Venice Islet from Santa Cruz Island with a barbed wire fence to prevent predator dogs from crossing over, only a very narrow channel seperating the two. A number of iguanas that were reproduced in Venice were returned to Cerro Dragon in 1990.

Dogs have now been removed from Cerro Dragon and the Galapagos National Park Service and the Land Iguana popuation seems to be stable. .

For current updates about the work of the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos go to facebook.com/darwinfoundation.

Please consider adding this spotting to the Animal Architecture mission at http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8082... and also the Galapagos mission at http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/1478...