Iguana

It is mentioned in the title of a sensual novel by Tennessee Williams, filmed en the 1960's: The night of the Iguana, which many generations link to Mexico and Puerto Vallarta, specifically. Even when they are not sensual, Iguanas are beautiful, interesting and ubiquitous inhabitants of Mexico, Central and South America, where more than 300 species live.

Iguanas are the most advanced living species from the order of American sauriae, to which also the lizards family belongs. The most common one is Iguana Iguana, known as Teyu in Mayan, baring a brilliant green color. It reaches up to two meters long from head to tail tip and being a cold-blooded animal it requires warm-humid ambiences to reproduce and thrive.

Males are always bigger and more colorful than females; even their dorsal flakes are longer. During heat they fight fiercely. Iguanas are oviparous and they lay an average of 30 eggs that they bury, always in winter. During this period females become exceptionally aggressive. They can live up to 20 years; however captivity stresses can reduce their life span considerably.

They are territorial, lonely, mimetic animals that spend most part of their lives camouflaged on the jungle canopy. Iguanas are amphibious and even when they are more agile in water than on land, they can reach up to 15 miles per hour running. They jump into water at the slightest threat of danger and they become living torpedoes. If ever they loose their tail when fleeing, it regenerates after some months. Youngsters eat eggs, insects and smaller vertebrates. Adults are herbivorous exclusively.

Iguanas are a treat in some places in Mexico and Central America; however they are captured mainly to keep them as pets. Even when they are considered an endangered species in their natural habitat, the introduction of iguanas in other ecosystems has created ecological crises.