Sister Islands Iguana

One of the fascinating things about living in the Cayman Islands is the different array of wildlife to that which I am used to in the UK. I’m not talking about the chickens roaming free in the car parks (although that always gets visitors talking), but the array of lizard life.

Much like the Galapagos Islands, the isolation of the Cayman Islands has led to the development of distinct animal subspecies.  A recent trip to Little Cayman allowed me to grab some photos of the “Sister Islands Iguana” an iguana distinct from the Blue Iguana native to Grand Cayman (see Blue Iguana – Grand Cayman) and similar, but different (same same, but different, as they say in the Caribbean) to the Rock Island Iguana of Galapagos (see Rock Iguana – Galapagos).  The Blue Iguana in Grand Cayman is particularly threatened by the encroachment of the Green (or “Common”) Iguanas and the development of mankind but fortunately the Green Iguanas have not developed a significant presence in the Sister Islands (Little Cayman and Cayman Brac).

Still, it is something that the residents of Little Cayman are conscious of, so I thought I would spread word of the factsheet that they have produced, as well as some pictures of the Sister Islands Iguanas, who were remarkably relaxed about our presence (indicative of the fact that they could not survive a substantial encroachment of humans!).