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O
ver a quarter of a century has passed
since we first investigated iguana
exploitation in Central America. A
“friend” recently pointed out to us that

we were a couple of “old-timers” when it comes
to that particular subject (see also the Profile on 
p. 86). Prior to collaborating on Ctenosaura and
Iguana research, we independently had done con-
siderable field work with these lizards. Fitch stud-
ied C. similis in Costa Rica in the late 1960s and
Henderson worked with juvenile I. iguana and
with C. similis in Belize in 1970–1. We were both
well aware of the human-induced pressure
imposed on these lizards, and we were interested
in bringing their plight to the attention of our col-
leagues, conservation organizations, legislative
bodies in the countries
in which we were
working, and to the
general public (see the
summary in Fitch et al.
1982, full citation at
the end of this article).

In the United
States, most folks
familiar with iguanas
associate them with the
pet trade or consider
them curios, and their
importation for these
purposes is a minor
industry. However,
within the iguanas’ ranges in tropical America,
these lizards are hunted for food and, in some
areas, may be the principal game animals. In order
to determine the extent of iguana exploitation and
learn the methods used to hunt and subdue them,
we visited each of the Central American countries,
observed iguanas in their natural surroundings and

in mercados, and we interviewed hunters and gov-
ernment officials.

Early records revealed that iguanas had been
hunted since ancient times by many of the native
cultures, but, thanks to their high reproductive
potentials, they had been able to maintain their
numbers over hundreds of years despite exploita-
tion. However, the widespread use of insecticides
to protect crops, habitat destruction resulting in
large part from an increase in the number of peo-
ple, and overhunting inevitably altered ecosystems.
The result was that both Green Iguanas and
ctenosaurs have experienced rapid reductions in
numbers in recent years and have disappeared from
many areas where they were formerly abundant.

63IGUANASeptember 2003

A Backward Glance at 
Iguana Exploitation

Henry S. Fitch1 and Robert W. Henderson2

1Henry S. Fitch Natural History Reservation, University of Kansas, Lawrence
2Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

All photographs by RWH.

Ctenosaura similis in 
the Belize City cemetery.

A ctenosaur emerging from
a Belize City cemetery grave.



64 IGUANA Volume 10, Number 3

Both Green Iguanas
and ctenosaurs have
been important protein
sources for people
locally. Each kind is
preferred in certain
parts of the range.
Beyond its actual food
value, the flesh is val-
ued for its supposed
mystical power, and
consumers are pre-
pared to pay much
more than they would
for a similar amount of
beef or chicken. The
Catholic Church has ruled that iguana flesh, like
fish, is a permissible substitute for “meat” (flesh of
mammals or birds) on Fridays and during Lent.
Over much of the range, ctenosaur flesh is highly
valued as an aphrodisiac. In Belize, however, it is
considered unfit for human food. The Belize City
cemetery supports a colony of Ctenosaura similis
and many of the lizards have burrows in the grave
mounds. This led to the belief that they feed on
human corpses in their graves.

In the Mercados
From the Isthmus of Tehuantepec along the

Pacific Coast to Lake Nicaragua, at least 25 towns
have mercados where iguanas were formerly sold.
El Salvador was a major importer. Having depleted
its own population of iguanas, it received them
from Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua by
boat and by bus. The neighboring countries
passed legislation banning the trade, but pedestri-
ans carrying sacks or baskets full of reptiles in many

instances were allowed to cross the border into El
Salvador.

Cruel treatment of captured iguanas was rou-
tine. In the mercados, buyers often requested that
vendors sell them unlaid eggs without the females.
The vendors would slit the females’ abdomens and
rip out the eggs. Many commonly believed that
such stripped females would survive and produce
more eggs. Females stripped of their eggs and
dying from the crude surgery were a common
sight where street vendors were plying their trade.
Also, because ctenosaurs were liable to bite a han-
dler, their mouths were routinely sewn shut. In
addition, pulling off the claw of the fourth
(longest) hind toe with pliers and drawing out the
tendon was common practice. The exposed ten-
don was then tied to that of the opposite side so
that the animal was immobilized. Iguanas were
often stuffed in sacks, several layers deep, and
might be kept there for long periods without food
or water.

Tethered Green Iguanas at the Chinandega, Nicaragua market
(February 1976).

Male and female ctenosaurs with their mouths sewn shut
(Nicaragua, February 1976).



Visiting the mercados, we would at times
encounter many dozens of iguanas. Approaching
the vendors, we requested permission to examine
the lizards and to take measurements and can
recall being spurned only once; the rest were more

than willing to let us handle their merchandise. We
would often work for several hours at a stretch,
standing in open markets and recording data,
while curious onlookers watched. I’m sure our
peculiar behavior was attributed to the fact that we
were gringos, thereby making it perfectly accept-
able. After handling several dozen adult Green
Iguanas and, especially, ctenosaurs, our arms
would be covered with scratches and cuts, some-
times from the lizards’ claws, but more often from
their lashing tails.

Visting the Hunters
The iguana vendors provided us with the

names of villages from which the lizards origi-
nated. Based on this information, we worked back-
ward from the mercados and were able to track
down several hunters in order to learn how they
captured their prey. In hunting iguanas for home
consumption, a .22 rifle was often used, but some
Central American countries banned the use of
firearms or even slingshots. Professional hunters
for the commercial market in El Salvador captured
their iguanas alive and unharmed. This was usually
accomplished with a bamboo pole and noose. The
hunter slowly approached the basking lizard and
extended the pole with noose toward it, with a
piece of calf’s liver dangling as bait.

Hunters often used trained dogs, and these
were especially effective in hunting female Green

65IGUANASeptember 2003

A pile of iguanas: mostly
Ctenosaura similis, but 
some Green Iguanas, too
(Chinandega, Nicaragua;
February 1976).

An iguana vendor at the
Chinandega, Nicaragua
mercado (February 1976).



Iguanas during the nesting season. The hunter
would move stealthily along a stream, scanning the
terrain ahead for signs of nesting activity. Several
females might be digging their nesting burrows in
a sand bank, and some might have their forequar-
ters in a hole so that they could not see danger
approaching. At a signal from the hunter, the dog
would race ahead and might catch a female before
she could escape from the burrow or outrun her
before she could reach the safety of a tree. Females
bearing a heavy burden of eggs were relatively slow
runners. The dogs were trained not to injure the
lizards.

Some hunters used shovels to dig iguanas
from their burrows; excavation also could be
accomplished with a pointed stick and their hands.
Females concentrating on nest excavation were
especially vulnerable to capture. Again, a female
with her head and forebody in the burrow was less
likely to be aware of an approaching hunter than a
lizard involved in other activities.

We also became aware that iguanas were
sometimes used merely for target practice. They
would be shot with a .22 rifle from a vehicle as
they sat on roadside boulders or fence posts. If not

killed outright, ctenosaurs that were shot often
escaped into nearby burrows, whether or not their
wounds were mortal. The “hunters” would make
no attempt to retrieve the dead or wounded
lizards.

What’s Happenend Since?
After our multi-year stint with iguanas, we

moved on to new projects or resumed old inter-
ests. Fitch continued his studies of Anolis lizards
and his long-term work with Kansas snake ecology.
Henderson moved on to the West Indies and its
intriguing snake fauna. We assume that the merca-
dos of Central America no longer sell iguanas in
the numbers that we observed in the mid-1970s.
Is it because of legislation protecting the tasty
lizards, or because population densities have dra-
matically plummeted? We suspect the latter. The
U.S. now harbors denser populations of Cteno-
saura similis and Iguana iguana than do some
areas where they occur naturally.

On a brighter note, interest in iguana biology
has never been greater, and exciting research is
being conducted in many countries and with a
diverse cadre of species. The long-term (20+ years)
mark-and-recapture study of John Iverson on
Cyclura cychlura inornata in the Bahamas is espe-
cially exciting. Also, efforts to protect species with
dramatically declining numbers (e.g., Ctenosaura
bakeri, Cyclura lewisi) are, on the one hand, dis-
heartening because the numbers are so danger-
ously low, but, on the other, gratifying that people
care enough about the iguanas to do something.
Iguanas of all species are fortunate to have the
International Iguana Society in their corners. 

References
Fitch, H.S., R.W Henderson, and D.M. Hillis. 1982. Exploitation

of iguanas in Central America, pp. 397–417. In: G.M.
Burghardt and A.S. Rand (eds.), Iguanas of the World: Their
Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation. Noyes Publ., Park Ridge,
New Jersey.

Krysko, K.L., F.W. King, K.M. Enge, and A.T. Reppas. 2003.
Distribution of the introduced Black Spiny-tailed Iguana
(Ctenosaua similis) on the southwestern coast of Florida.
Florida Sci. 66:141–146.

Valiulis, J.M., K.N. Hines, and J.B. Iverson. 2003. Adventures of
the iguana patrol, pp. 39–48. In: R.W. Henderson and R.
Powell (eds.), Islands and the Sea: Essays on Herpetological
Exploration in the West Indies. Soc. Study Amphib. Rept.
Contrib. Herpetol., Vol. 20, Ithaca, New York.

66 IGUANA Volume 10, Number 3

A young iguana vendor and her merchandise (Chinandega,
Nicaragua; February 1976).


