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IGUANA  •  VOLUME 11, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2004 185IGUANA NEWSBRIEFS

Iguana Specialist Group 
Awarded Grant for 

Anegada Iguana Conservation

The ISG received one of two $15,000
grants from the Sir Peter Scott Fund for
Conservation Action. This is the first
year these grants have been offered and
the ISG was extremely fortunate in hav-
ing the Anegada Iguana project selected.

The project is titled: “Species
Recovery Plan Implementation and
Local Conservation Awareness for the
Critically Endangered Anegada Iguana.”

The award letter from David
Brackett, Chair, IUCN Species Survival
Commission, noted that his office and
the IUCN Species Programme “were
impressed with the proposed activities
outlined in [this] project proposal. We
believe the project will make a marked
difference to conservation efforts for this
species. We also hope that, as one of the
first projects to be awarded funding
under this new initiative, [it] will gener-
ate interest and support for our ongoing
efforts to replenish the Fund.”

Grand Cayman 
Headstart Facility Upgrade
30 July – 13 August 2004

As the first of this year’s record number
of Blue Iguanas began to hatch, “Team
Blue,” a group of international volun-
teers, arrived on Grand Cayman to
ensure that animals would have new
housing prepared for them at the Captive
Breeding Facility in Queen Elizabeth II
Botanic Park (see also the article on p.
148). Assembled by John Binns of the
International Reptile Conservation
Foundation, the team included partici-
pants from the UK and the US, some of
the latter representing US zoos as well as
the IIS.

Several members of the team
brought along equipment and donations,
as did a number of enthusiastic
Caymanian volunteers. From an initial
prototype of four attached 4 x 4 ft cages,
the group organized an assembly line,
sawing lumber, notching and screwing
precut pieces together, and covering each
completed unit with screen mesh. Others

were charged with the seemingly endless
task of cutting cage doors and attaching
hinges and bolts to the 102 units that
were produced within a new compound.
Even as the saws and power drills
hummed, contractors were busy mixing
and pouring cement for the construction
of larger enclosures for a number of
breeding pairs.

Meanwhile, in the current iguana
housing area, other team members
cleaned, repaired, and refurbished existing
cages, making creative use of natural ele-
ments from the surrounding Botanic Park
to enrich the cage environments. Within
the larger breeding pens that had already
been constructed, shovels and wheelbar-
rows were used to move rock, soil, and
vegetation to improve the physical layout.

Even as new cages were completed,
some were quickly furnished and their
new tenants moved in, mostly two year-
olds due for release in September into the
neighboring Salina Reserve. Some mem-
bers of the team undertook a quick sur-
vey of this rather rocky and forbidding

I G U A N A  N E W S B R I E F S

Anegada iguana (Cyclura pinguis). Photograph by John Binns.



186 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 11, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2004 IGUANA NEWSBRIEFS

territory, followed later by a helicopter fly-
over, during which several soil deposits
were identified as possible nesting areas.

IIS Members Survive 
Daytona Hurricane

Even Hurricane Charley didn’t dampen
the spirits of dedicated reptile lovers at this
year’s Daytona Beach Reptile Expo on
14–15 August. The International Iguana
Society was on hand to share conservation
information and tips on iguana care.
Several new members signed on and a lot
of people dropped by to renew existing
memberships, chat, and hang out with
our spokeslizards. Jane Billette from the
Mid-Michigan Reptile Rescue brought
along Scrub, a Rhinoceros Iguana, Azul, a
Blue Iguana hybrid, as well as Emma,
Marilyn, and Picasso, three rescued Green
Iguanas. Also delighting our visitors was
Chuck, IIS President Joe Wasilewski’s
Cuban Iguana, who many long-time
members will remember from cover pho-
tos in the Iguana Times.

Attendance at the Expo was down
somewhat due to the weather this year.
Hopefully everyone who couldn’t make it
this year will make it in 2005, when the auc-

tion will be run by the IIS in order to raise
funds for iguana conservation. We’re already
making plans and collecting donated items
to be auctioned. If you’d like more informa-
tion about the auction or have items you’d
like to donate, please contact AJ Gutman at
ctenosaura@cyclura.com.

Many thanks to all our wonderful vol-
unteers who made this year’s show so much
fun! We hope to see you all again next year.

Early hatch for 
Jamaican iguanas

2004 was a record early hatch, with 59
hatchlings emerging before September.
Fortunately, Edwin Duffus had erected
barriers surrounding the known commu-
nal nesting sites by the third week of
August, so all of those hatchlings were
collected.  Rick van Veen, who is leading
the field effort in the Hellshire Hills,
brought 19 individuals to the Hope Zoo
for “headstarting,” attached small radio
transmitters to another 18, and released
the remainder in the vicinity of their
hatch location.  Preliminary results from
radio tracking indicate that hatchling
iguanas disperse away from nesting sites
in random directions, and some individ-

uals immediately disperse considerable
distances (up to several hundred meters).
While not on the move, hatchlings
appear to spend nearly all their time in
trees and, after one week post-release,
several individuals appear to be restrict-
ing their activity to small areas — sug-
gesting that they may be establishing ter-
ritories or home ranges.  Unfortunately,
the imminent arrival of Hurricane Ivan
has interrupted data collection, as safety
concerns have dictated that Rick leave
Hellshire and return to Kingston. Radio
telemetry work and monitoring of the
remaining iguana nests will commence
once the hurricane passes and he can
return to the field.

Cyclura lewisi Elevated 
to Full Species

Fred Burton (2004), based on mtDNA
evidence reported in Malone et al. (2000)
plus existing and new observations on
scale characters, color, geographic and
reproductive isolation, and phyly, for-
mally recognized Cyclura lewisi (formerly
C. nubila lewisi) as a full species (see also
article on p. 148). Cyclura nubila cayma-
nensis retained its subspecific status.

References
Burton, F.J. 2004. Revision to species of Cyclura

nubila lewisi, the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana.
Caribbean Journal of Science 40:198–203 (pdf file
available at http://www.caribjsci.org/).

Malone, C.L., T. Wheeler, J.F. Taylor, and S.K.
Davis. 2000. Phylogeography of the Caribbean
Rock Iguana (Cyclura): Implications for conser-
vation and insights on the biogeographic history
of the West Indies. Molecular Phylogeny and
Evolution 17:269–279.

Aerial photo taken after completion of Team Blue’s efforts. Photograph by John Binns.

Dorsal view of head scalation typical of
Cyclura lewisi. Letters identify scales used in
comparisons with C. nubila and C. cychlura.
Illustration by John Binns.


