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IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2006 47TRAVELOGUE

The idea for this trip began to form about six years ago. A group
of Anolis enthusiasts (yes, believe it or not, such folks do exist)
were corresponding on our website when someone posted a
photograph of a pure blue anole with the label “Anolis gorgonae.”
At that time, none of us had ever heard of it. Considering that
over 350 species of Anolis have been described, this was not too
unusual. I was familiar with all of the West Indian species (at
least by name), and, based on the looks of the animal in the pho-
tograph, I suspected that it was a continental form in a group of
species frequently assigned to the genus Norops1. However, I was
skeptical that this was even a real lizard. It was a pure blue, from
head to tail, and the picture just looked like it had been doc-
tored. Not only did I suspect that the color was enhanced, but
a name like gorgonae (after a mythical creature) suggested that
this, too, was a mythical creature and that someone was playing
a prank on the group.

Blue lizards do exist. Species such as Cyclura lewisi and
Chamaeleo (Furcifer) pardalis are blue, and several anoles and
some Day Geckos (genus Phelsuma) are at least partially blue.
So, why was this animal so hard for me to take seriously? This
lizard was just too blue to believe. It looked as if it had been
painted blue; it had no pattern and no stripes or spots. What
purpose could being solid blue serve any creature in a natural
environment (and, in nature, logical reasons almost always exist
for certain colors or characters)?

A day or two later, a group member from Germany con-
firmed that Anolis (Norops) gorgonae was a real species, and was
even able to identify the geographic origin — Isla Gorgona off
the Pacific coast of Colombia. I searched in earnest to find more
information, but met with very little success. I did determine
that Isla Gorgona was a real place, but… was the lizard really
blue? I couldn’t find any natural history information or any
descriptions that verified the color. Some subsequent exchanges
on the website discussed the possibility of going to Isla Gorgona
to find out for ourselves, but, at that time, the western coast of
Colombia could be a dangerous place, with paramilitary gueril-
las and government insurgents in control of some areas. Some
problems remain, but, as time passed, the image of the blue
anole of Gorgona haunted me. Every so often, I would do an
internet search in an effort to find more information or photo-
graphs of the species. Discussions (mostly less than serious)
about getting to Isla Gorgona persisted — but too many obsta-
cles appeared to preclude a casual trip to the island. I had
checked, and getting there was certainly not like traveling to one
of the easy-to-visit islands in the West Indies with which I was
quite familiar. Isla Gorgona is a Colombian national park (and
a prison?), and you need permission to visit. In addition, the
logistics of getting to the island are daunting. The park service
does not provide transportation. So, how could an Anolis fanatic
get there?

One day, as luck would have it, Nathan, the very same per-
son who posted the picture of the anole, met and married
Ingrid, a Colombian woman. Could this finally be an in? It was!
Still, it didn’t happen overnight. Over the next year, I continued
to search for information. I even enlisted the help of Sandy
Echternacht (University of Tennessee), who had spent consider-
able time in the Neotropics, and he managed to find a publica-
tion about the herpetofauna of Gorgona. It was from the early
1970s and in Spanish, but it was far more than I had been able
to find. I also came across another picture of a blue lizard that

T R A V E L O G U E

The Blue Anoles of Isla Gorgona
Joseph Burgess

Jacksonville, Florida 

1 See the footnote in the article by Alexander Gutsche (Iguana
12:240–243) about the status of the genus Norops.

Colombia sits at the junction of Central and South America, features
a vast array of varying habitats, and is a hot-spot of biodiversity.

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48 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2006 BURGESS

was linked to Dr. Kirsten Nicholson’s website. I contacted her
and found out that she had been to Isla Gorgona just a few
months earlier — now, I was making some real progress. We
corresponded via email, and she helped clarify the status of some
of the other anoles that occurred on the island and which the
publication (in Spanish) had misidentified.

Getting to Isla Gorgona
Traveling to any country is always an adventure, but, when you
are able to dive into the culture with one of its citizens, you really
get a different perspective. I had been to Colombia before, but,
after the first day, I could tell I was going to see a lot more than
I had previously.

The trip began in the beautiful old city of Cartagena, where
I attended Nathan and Ingrid’s wedding. From there, we spent
some time in Bogotá and Cali before setting out for Gorgona. We
would be joined on the trip by one of Nathan’s friend, Dominic.
While herpetology is not his interest, he would prove to be a good
sport and supportive of our efforts. Getting to the island is no easy
task, and definitely not something for the casual traveler. From the
U.S., you would have to take several flights on progressively
smaller planes and then a boat ride from two optional points of
departure. We chose the town of Guapi, since the boat ride from
there was about eight hours shorter; however, the boat was much
smaller than I’d prefer for a voyage into the Pacific.

As soon as we landed in Guapi, the plane was surrounded
by Colombian marines with automatic weapons. They estab-
lished a perimeter for the safe debarking of passengers. The
entire town had a strong military presence, a constant reminder
of how dangerous this area of Colombia could be.

The river town of Guapi.

The old city of San Diego, Cartagena, Colombia.

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IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2006 49TRAVELOGUE

Guapi is an interesting little river town. No roads pass in or
out of the city, which has only the small airstrip and the river for
transporting people and goods. Although roads exist within the
town, vehicular traffic, excepting only an occasional minibus or
truck, is absent. Being there was like stepping back in time. We
watched dugout canoes bringing fruits and vegetables to the
riverside town square. The river was truly the main street; all of
the action was there. After about a half-hour wait spent taking
in the local flavor, our boat captain, “Highpitch,” arrived and we
were on our way.

After a short stretch of the Rio Guapi, we emerged into the
Pacific Ocean. About 20 miles of ocean now stood between us
and our destination. The day was overcast and hazy, but the island
started to take shape on the horizon after about 10 miles. It did-
n’t look much different than many of the mountainous islands I’d
visited before, but it was a stark contrast compared to the main-
land we had just left behind. This portion of Colombia’s western
coast is a flat estuarine coastal landscape. So, having this island rise
from the sea before us was immensely impressive. As we got closer,
we began to make out some of the island’s features, a beautiful
rainforest that probably hasn’t changed much in thousands of
years. I could see the few small buildings of the park facilities as
we approached the shore, but no dock. I wasn’t dressed for a beach
landing, but Highpitch was an experienced captain and got us
right onto the beach; I didn’t even get my shoes wet.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by park staff and given an
indoctrination to the park, its rules, and a brief history (in

Spanish). In 1526, Francisco Pizarro discovered the island on his
way to Perú. When he visited the island, he was amazed by the
number of snakes he saw, and consequently named it “Gorgona,”
in reference to Medusa, the mythical Gorgon with a proliferation
of serpents upon her head. The island is still known for its plen-
tiful snakes, but it also has an otherwise rich fauna, flora, and
marine environment (coral reefs). For these reasons, the govern-
ment declared the island a national park in 1984. Prior to that,
it contained the most feared penitentiary in the country. The
ruins of the prison remain, but are quickly being reclaimed by
the forest. The park facility buildings are actually part of the old
prison’s administrative and staff structures.

The park includes 61,688 hectares, of which approximately
97% correspond to marine area and 1,660 hectares are terrestrial.
The main island is 9 km long and 2.5 km wide, with a highest
elevation of 330 m. It and the smaller island of Gorgonilla are cov-
ered by lush tropical forest that descends from the top of the
mountain to the edge of the ocean. The known fauna includes 19
lizards (4 of which are endemic), 15 snakes, 8 amphibians, over
175 birds (including sea and migratory), 12 bats, monkeys, a
sloth, sea turtles, whales, and sea lions that come to visit from the
relatively nearby Galápagos Islands. The park receives only about
7,000 visitors a year, most of which are students or scuba divers.

Isla Gorgona
We collected our bags and were on our way to our cabin when
we came across the first reptile, a Red-headed Basilisk (Basiliscus

Lush Isla Gorgona.

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50 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2006 BURGESS

galeritus), quickly followed by our first amphibian, a dart frog
(Epipedobates boulengeri). These were the most commonly
encountered species during our visit. The dart frogs were pres-
ent almost in plague proportions, a testament to the efficiency
of their toxic skin secretions to deter predation. When walking,
we had to be careful not to step on them.

We were eager to get into the forest and begin our search
for the blue lizards. From the very beginning, I was concerned
about even finding one. Anoles on the southern continent often
are far less abundant than what you encounter in the West

Indies or even some parts of North America. My previous visits
to South America had yielded only a few individuals, and I often
missed many targeted species. We discussed our desire with a
member of the park staff, who took us to a trail along which he
had seen them — but he told us that they are very rare. We tra-
versed the trail and found many other interesting species,

A handsome male Red-Headed Basilisk (Basiliscus galeritus), one of the
most commonly encountered reptiles on Isla Gorgona.

Dart Frogs (Epipedobates boulengeri) were ubiquitous and obvious,
exploiting the protection provided by extremely toxic skin secretions.

A large mural depicts the park namesake, Medusa, The Gorgon.

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IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2006 51TRAVELOGUE

Harlequin Toads (Atelopus elegans), Wood Lizards (Enyaliodes
heterolepis), Bridge’s Ground Lizards (Ameiva bridgesii), and a
Large-scaled Black Treesnake (Chironius grandisquamis), but we
were almost to the end of the trail and had not seen a single
anole. We decided to take a side trail into an overgrown fruit
orchard, which turned out to be a very good decision. We
almost immediately found two species, and after some initial
confusion, identified them as Anolis (Norops) medemi (an
endemic) and a juvenile A. (N.) princeps. We returned to the
main trail and, with only about 50 meters left, our guide
pointed out an enormous A. (N.) princeps. I had no idea they
could get that big. With my eyes locked on this giant anole, I
walked right past the object of the trip. From behind me, I heard
Dominic say: “It’s the blue one” (remember that he is not a “her-
per” and is unfamiliar with scientific names). As I turned to see
what he was describing, I saw it: A glowing neon blue lizard that
looked very out-of-place in this shadowy forest. It was more fan-
tastic than I imagined it could be, and we all stared in amaze-
ment. All doubt was gone, and the fabled blue anole not only
existed, it lived up to all the anticipation. After a lot of talk and
a short photo session, we headed back. Although exciting, we
still had some work to do. Virtually no literature addresses A.
(N.) gorgonae, so I wanted to find out as much about it as I
could. We had to find more.

As we adjusted to a steady diet of fish (or sometimes
chicken), rice, and plantains provided by the park, we made sev-
eral additional excursions into the forest, but with limited suc-
cess. We were finding only about one blue anole per day. Only
a few trails were accessible and the park required visitors to have

a guide. The staff was very protective of the park, which was a
welcome surprise. They also had an obligation to protect the
everyday tourist from the serpents and had strict rules for ven-
turing out at night. Our guide, Orlando, was always a little nerv-
ous about our “off the trail wanderings” and the fact that Nathan
and I were not wearing “snake protection boots.”  Concerns cen-
tered mostly on venomous snakes, like the Fer-de-Lance
(Bothrops sp.), especially at night, although we saw none. Snakes
of other kinds were certainly not in short supply. We encoun-
tered several in the area immediately around our cabin. In fact,
one afternoon, we found a large Boa Constrictor (Boa constric-
tor) consuming one of the large rodents (Proechimys semispinosa)
that graced our cabin porch each night. However, after wran-
gling several large boas and several other snakes, we earned
Orlando’s respect and confidence. We also in a way became his
guide, teaching him specifics about the amphibians and reptiles
that we encountered along the trails. After a while, we were per-
mitted to make several hikes alone, which is normally not
allowed, and we were grateful.

Although this was considered the dry season, it rained often
and was extremely humid. After one good downpour, Nathan
and I hit the trails to see what the rain had brought out of hid-
ing. One interesting observation was that the multitudes of dart
frog were now carrying tadpoles on their backs. This is a com-
mon strategy among some dart frogs. They lay their eggs in a
moist and protected crevice or a convenient crab-opened

Ingrid watches a large Boa Constrictor finish its meal.

Anolis princeps is a true giant, reaching total lengths to 64 cm.

Harlequin Toads (Atelopus elegans) often lie exposed to view, even during
daylight hours, relying on bright warning coloration to deter predators.

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52 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 13, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2006 BURGESS

coconut. Upon hatching, they ferry the tadpoles to a permanent
source of water in which to complete their development.

One fortunate day, we were on the beach trail and condi-
tions must have been perfect, because we found five A. (N.) gorg-
onae. In the following days, we found additional animals in this
area. So far, all were in closed canopy forest with little to no
undergrowth. Also, 90% of what we had seen so far was on
small diameter (single stalk) trees and lizards were perching low
(< 1 m) on the trunks. We also were finding a high female-to-
male ratio, with females being a deeper blue than any of the
males we observed. Our observations contrasted with what
Kirsten Nicholson had seen during the wet season, when she
found no females and only three males, all of which were found
on large-diameter trees at heights >3 m. The paucity of arboreal
lizards was easy to explain. The density of saurophagus snakes
(Oxybelis, Leptophis) was very high.

Although not reported in any of the literature, House
Geckos (Hemidactylus sp., probably H. frenatus or H. leightoni)
were present in small numbers. These most likely represented a
recent introduction from the mainland. Already, however, these
apparently new arrivals appeared to be excluding a smaller intro-
duced gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris) from several of the facil-
ity’s buildings.

One frustrating situation during this trip was our failure to
find two species of anoles I had hoped to see, A. (N.) biporcatus
and A. (N.) chocorum. While I am familiar with A. (N.) bipor-
catus, having encountered them during visits to Central
America, I was completely unfamiliar with A. (N.) chocorum.
Fortunately, the park had a small lab with preserved specimens,
which were immensely helpful in clarifying the inevitable iden-
tification problems initially encountered with new faunas. Those
specimens also gave me the opportunity to view any species we
had not observed in the field. The park also had an informative
library (mostly in Spanish), with references to the island’s ecol-
ogy as well as that of Colombia and South America.

Every day on Isla Gorgona brought new discoveries and
interesting creatures we had never seen. Our time on the island
came to an end all too quickly — but it and the Lagarto Azul
will be long remembered. The island is a great opportunity for
any student or professional herpetologist. Very few non-
Colombian scientists visit the island, and its abundant biotic
riches lay largely untapped.

Acknowledgement
I thank Ingrid Sorza, for planning and coordinating the trip and
for her tireless translation and patience.

We saw only two species of tiny geckos in the genus Lepidoblepharis,
this is L. peraccae.

One of the many Brown Vine Snakes (Oxybelis aeneus) encountered
during the trip. These exceedingly slender snakes feed primarily on
lizards.

Yellow-headed Geckos (Gonatodes albogularis) have an extensive distri-
bution throughout Central America and northern South America. Like
many lizards in the genus Gonatodes, this species is sexually dimorphic;
females lack the yellow head of males for which the species is named.

“Lagarto Azul,” the Blue Anole (Anolis gorgonae) of Isla Gorgona.

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