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168 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 11, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2004

Grand Cayman Blue Iguana “Godzilla” (~1934–2004).

ADAMS



IGUANA  •  VOLUME 11, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2004 169

If you have ever had a family member that, against all odds,
lived past their life expectancy, you may identify with the rela-

tionship the herpetological crew at the Gladys Porter Zoo had
with Godzilla — the oldest living lizard on record. A giant of a
Grand Cayman Blue Iguana (Cyclura lewisi), he measured over
50 cm from snout to vent. When he came to the Gladys Porter
Zoo in 1997, he was estimated to be 62 years of age. He had a
giant head, an enormous, yet gaunt body, and a senile cataract in
one of his eyes. Despite his incredible appetite and his ability to
consume large volumes of food, he never seemed to be able to
gain or carry much weight — just like grandpa.

In March 2004, John Binns asked me to write an article on
Godzilla, and I agreed. Although we have known for years that
Godzilla’s days were numbered, I had no clue this article would
be written in eulogy (see also the inside back cover of IGUANA
11(2)). At approximately 69 years of age, Godzilla died in late
May of this year from age-related liver failure. Based on the
appearance of his internal organs, he looked and acted amazingly
well until a week or so before his death. Blind in one eye and par-
tially blind in the other, Godzilla had gotten a bit wobbly, and
would sometimes tumble, rather than climb off his favorite bask-
ing spots. As he grew more and more senile, we watched with
great compassion and respect. Godzilla had led a colorful and
amazing life. His history tells volumes about the tenacity and
resilience of both this individual animal and the world’s most crit-
ically endangered iguana species.

West Indian Rock Iguanas of the genus Cyclura are, as a
group, under severe threat throughout their range. As large island
endemics with no adaptations to protect against mammalian
predators and competitors, they are suffering catastrophic
declines from dog, cat, and rat predation, hunting, habitat degra-
dation by goats and cattle, and large scale habitat loss to human
uses. The Grand Cayman Blue Iguana is the most endangered in
the group, with an estimated 10–25 individuals surviving from
the original wild population (see Iguana Times 9(3):51–58;
10(1):15–20; IGUANA 11(1):30–31).

The Gladys Porter Zoo is one of a handful of US facilities
that have breeding programs for Grand Cayman Blue Iguanas.
Most of the captive Blue Iguanas in North America are related to
one another, making it very important to preserve the genetic
material of those individuals, like Godzilla, that have not bred in
captivity. US facilities work closely with officials on Grand
Cayman to preserve what little habitat remains and support their
efforts to build and maintain breeding facilities. Without the

dynamic efforts of the Grand Cayman National Trust (see the
profile of Fred Burton, IGUANA 10(2):53–55), The
International Iguana Foundation, many supporting members of
the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, and dedicated
iguana conservationists outside the zoo community, this species
would already be past the point of no return. Hopefully, the com-
bination of habitat protection, habitat restoration, and the release
of captive-hatched iguanas in protected areas on Grand Cayman
will ensure their existence for many years to come.

Godzilla was captured as a full-grown adult on Grand
Cayman in 1950 by naturalist Ira Thompson. Godzilla weighed
over 15 pounds and was estimated to be at least 15 years of age
at that time. I was told that he was captured on Grand Cayman
with a guava on a treble hook, and the hook split his upper lip.
Although the lip healed, Godzilla was left with two fleshy pro-
trusions on either side of his snout (these moustache-like pro-
trusions, although surgically removable, were left alone, serving
as permanent identifying marks). He was imported to the US in
1985 by Ramon Noegel of Life Fellowship in Florida. Although
offered multiple opportunities to breed, according to Greg Moss,
Godzilla was already showing signs of aging and never sired a fer-
tile clutch of eggs. Ownership was transferred to Tom Crutchfield
in the early 1990s.

Godzilla came to the Gladys Porter Zoo during late winter
in 1997, along with three other Blue Iguanas, two males and one
female. When the group arrived, many of the adults needed med-
ical treatment to help them recover from the trip. Our first intro-
duction to Godzilla’s health problems came the day after his
arrival. He was initially treated for a fungal infection in his gas-
trointestinal tract. Surprisingly, he responded rapidly to antibi-
otics and a giant dose of South Texas sunshine. Despite the pres-
ence of another large adult male that was much more athletic,
Godzilla established the outside yard and night house facility as
his territory, and never relinquished his dominant status.

Godzilla was one of only a few founding Grand Cayman
Blue Iguanas in the US, and, having made no contribution to the
captive gene pool, getting him to reproduce became a priority —
well, right after keeping him alive. Just like any geriatric creature,
something always seemed to be going on with his health. He
would tear off a toenail, revealing clotting factor problems that
required vitamin supplementation and bandaging. He had an
intermittent sinus problem that occasionally required antibiotic
administration. For some strange reason, he had periodic bouts
of tail problems that would require the surgical removal of sev-

Requiem for Godzilla
Colette Adams

Curator of Herpetology
Gladys Porter Zoo
Brownsville, Texas

Photographs by John Binns.

�

REQUIEM FOR GODZILLA



170 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 11, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2004 ADAMS

eral inches of his tail. We would beef him up with vitamins and
medication for weeks prior to such a surgical procedure.

We have a saying at our reptile department: with herps, real
medical emergencies are rare. However, this saying never applied
to Godzilla and his injured toenails that refused to stop bleeding.
Indeed, Godzilla routinely brought out the “hero” in our veteri-
nary staff. He usually gratified us by bouncing back after his
emergency treatments.

Unfortunately, the adult female that arrived with Godzilla
in 1997 died of coelomitis secondary to chronic egg retention
just four months after her receipt. In June 2000, a suitable poten-
tial mate for Godzilla was sent to us from the National Zoo in
Washington. I knew our work was already cut out for us. She had
been kept indoors and was cued to lay eggs in February. In
February, the weather is still cold in Brownsville, and most of our
Cyclura have historically laid eggs in June or July. I wondered how
long Godzilla and the new female would take to get their repro-
ductive cycles in-sync.

On a very warm day in April 2001, Dave Martin, Head
Keeper of Reptiles, decided that the time had come to give the
pair a try at breeding. Godzilla looked interested in the female,
but she was much more nimble than he was, and always man-
aged to scamper away from his advances. Neither Godzilla nor
Dave was willing to give up easily, and Dave contrived an ingen-
ious plan. He brought both of the animals into the confines of
their barn and nighthouse in hopes that the female would not
succeed in getting away. She didn’t get away, but Dave said
Godzilla seemed unwilling to breed indoors. So, the three of

them went outdoors. This time, Dave held the female’s tail to
keep her from running away. Again, Godzilla seemed interested,
but possibly concerned about Dave’s presence in his territory.
Finally, Dave carried the female into the barn and crouched at
the undersized door, constructed to allow the passage of iguanas
— not humans. Holding the female’s tail securely, he extended
his arm and the female into the outdoor enclosure.

Success! Dave had made himself “invisible” enough to keep
Godzilla from being intimidated. Godzilla approached the female
and grabbed the skin of her nape. Figuring Godzilla had it han-
dled, Dave let go of the female. However, when Godzilla would

Godzilla’s species name changed three times during his estimated 69
years of life. He was captured as Cyclura macleayi lewisi, later became
Cyclura nubila lewisi, and passed away as Cyclura lewisi. This photo-
graph shows his distinct telltale “moustache.”

Although handicapped by the ravages of age, Godzilla remained as proud as any Blue Iguana many decades his junior. Shown here in his display
area, Godzilla would pause frequently to rest while enjoying the warm Texas sun.



IGUANA  •  VOLUME 11, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2004 171REQUIEM FOR GODZILLA

try to readjust his grip, the female would scamper off. After sev-
eral similar attempts, Dave figured he had nothing to lose and he
did not let go of the female. Finally, with Dave’s assistance,
Godzilla copulated with the female. This was repeated a week
later, with the same results.

No eggs were produced as the result of that breeding, and
Dave got creative once again in 2002. On 6 May, Dave played
matchmaker. This time, he learned that, if he maintained a low
profile or remained partially hidden in the outdoor enclosure,
Godzilla would tolerate his presence. Copulation this time was
of much shorter duration.

When the female laid infertile eggs in July 2002, we sus-
pected that mating had taken place too early in the reproductive
cycle of the female — or Godzilla was infertile.

In the two years that followed, the matchmaking scheme
was repeated, but Godzilla no longer showed any interest in
breeding. The female continued to lay eggs each year in mid-July,
but her eggs in 2003 and 2004 were infertile.

As each breeding season passed for Godzilla, we knew that
he might not be around for the next. This was certainly so for the
breeding season in 2004. Increasingly wobbly and uncoordinated,
we watched him closely, although he continued to feed well when
he could figure out where the food was. I discovered that I could
place his food in the bottom of a five-gallon bucket, lay the bucket
on its side and let him walk headfirst into the bucket. This became
the most energy efficient way to feed an old lizard that could not
see very well and tired easily when fed by hand.

In mid-May, we were treating Godzilla for an eye injury he
had sustained after running into a gunnite wall, when we noticed
how jaundiced the inside of his mouth looked. Blood work
revealed an extremely low red blood cell count and our veteri-
narians suspected a failing liver. Almost as though he knew that
his secret was out, Godzilla refused to eat from that day on. By
the following day, he would not move in and out of the sun to
thermoregulate and I brought him up to the reptile house. Two
days later, wrapped in my favorite flannel snake bag, Godzilla
died peacefully in his sleep. A quiet sadness fell over the
Herpetarium that day.

Still, we had to move quickly to ship his gonads and tissue
samples to the San Diego Zoo’s Center for Reproduction of
Endangered Species (CRES). Tandora Grant helped make the
arrangements for the priority shipment that would result in the
preservation of his precious genetic material. Two days after his
passing, she informed us that he still had live sperm in his testes
at the time of his death.

Histopathology reports confirmed severe age-related cirrho-
sis of the liver as the cause of death. The pathologist commented
he had never been presented with such an old lizard. We were
certain that was true.

Like the few remaining wild Grand Cayman Blue Iguanas,
Godzilla was a trooper that fought the odds every day. All igua-
nas are unique and spectacular in their own right, but Godzilla
was “perfect” — a favorite of zoo keepers and volunteers alike.
He will truly be missed.

As Godzilla aged, he became increasingly unstable, often had difficulty reaching his favorite basking spot, and sometimes tumbled rather than
climbed down. However, atop his basking spot, his proud stance seemed to say that age was irrelevant, and he remained a grand Grand Cayman
Blue until the end.


