Christmas iguana: This large lizard belongs to two worlds at once - land and ocean (10 photos)

Somehow it turned out that the holiday of Christmas does not have its own established animal symbol. Except perhaps deer, and even those only in Europe, and only because they carry around the world a difficult burden in the form of a plump Santa and mountains of gifts. To hell with the deer, stop putting up with this! Our candidate for the main animal of Christmas is the Christmas iguana!





The Christmas iguana is a subspecies of marine iguana. There are about seven subspecies of them in the Galapagos; they are all slightly different from each other. Our hero registered on the island of Hispaniola. What's ironic is that there are no Christmas trees or snow there. Also, no one has seen an iguana decorating cacti with garlands and tinsel. So why was it called “Christmas”? It turns out that all you need to do is be the most fashionable guy in the village.



The Galapagos Islands are a real VIP club of “strong men” of wildlife: only the hardiest and most flexible species can survive on isolated islands. There is little territory, and even fewer resources. Therefore, a place in the sun must first be won. And the marine iguana in these circumstances is one of the main “bosses of the rocking chair” of the archipelago. After all, she learned to live both on land and in the sea.





Thanks to their powerful paws and giant claws, they climb steep cliffs. During periods of storms, lizards are capable of starving for several months. And a sophisticated gas exchange system allows iguanas to hold their breath for an hour! After all, they know how to shoot salt. And they do it... from the nose. This is how reptiles remove its excess from the body.



And in general, one glance is enough to understand: jokes with this guy are bad. A giant animal weighing tens of kilos is dressed in a mournful black scaly suit. Males, in addition to everything, are decorated with brutal spikes. Doesn't sound too festive, right? But it is very functional. Everyday black color camouflages lizards among the stones and at the same time helps to warm up faster after water procedures, attracting heat.



But on the eve of the Christmas holidays, everything changes. From December to March, iguanas trade in their tatty outfits for a green and red suit that's right up there with Christmas hues. It is at this time that the time of love comes for reptiles. The strongest and largest alphas divide the island into zones of influence. Throughout the breeding season, they will defend their piece of property from the encroachments of other contenders. After all, females look not only for the strongest, but also for the richest in the territory.



Showdowns between men can last for hours with breaks for a cup of tea and eating seaweed. Their battles are, in principle, filled with nobility: iguanas do not maim each other. The whole fight is to push the enemy out of the territory. It all ends when one of the participants simply admits defeat and leaves.



Having chosen “the one,” the female will no longer look for love on the side. Now her concern is to raise her offspring. And even here their harsh character manifests itself. Unlike other subspecies of marine iguanas, Christmas lizards do not abandon the clutch of eggs to the mercy of fate, but jealously guard the nest.



Mommy will not stand on ceremony with the enemy - in order to protect the masonry, she will scratch and bite into blood. Maybe this is why only the iguanas from the island of Hispaniola have special mating colors, not only the males? Iguanas are also red-green, only the color of their scales is darker and duller.



Here you can clearly see the difference in the mating colors of males and females of the Christmas iguana. The female (left) is not as bright and darker. Also, females are easy to distinguish because they do not have such a luxurious crest as males.

But where did the lizards get such a colorful outfit in the first place? The fact is that these animals are very familiar with the principle “you are what you eat.” Our iguanas are staunch vegans: they feed exclusively on seaweed and occasionally cacti. The diet of Christmas iguanas includes red and green algae. Over many years of such a diet, lizards adopted red and green pigments - logical, isn’t it? During the mating season, the chemical balance in the body of iguanas changes, which awakens “dormant” colors and gives the lizards bright seasonal costumes.



So the Christmas iguana lives on his distant island and does not suspect anything about Christmas, or about the New Year holidays, or about Christmas trees with Santa Clauses. She lives a real life and spends her time solving real problems. That is why the iguana is an ideal mascot for those who don’t care about all these holidays and who are infuriated by the New Year’s fuss.