Iguanas in Heat

Prague Zoo is the only one zoo in Europe is breeding Grand Cayman Blue Iguanas. They arrived at 2011. Photo Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

Biting and pulling the skin – those, who are not familiar, might consider the behaviour of the critically endangered iguanas to be an aggression. However, the opposite is true, as biting is an integral part of their courtship ritual. Their keepers watch it with excitement, as they have been waiting for potential reproduction of these very rare herbivorous lizards since 2011. The reason behind this is that the iguana breeding was interrupted by floods during which they had to be evacuated and even later, Faust, the male iguana, was not very eager to start courting.

The reptile curator Petr Velenský had decided to place Faust and his female friend Markéta to the close proximity of the Cuban Iguana males and it seemed to provoke Faust to act. “With a little bit of exaggeration I can say that they are working on the reproduction of the Blue Iguanas,“ says the keeper, adding that to succeed in obtaining fertilized eggs with these rare species is extremely difficult. Unlike most reptiles, Blue Iguana males are not able to store sperm and therefore the coupling has to happen exactly at the time of ovulation. This means that the two partners need to be in perfect harmony.

Prague Zoo is the only zoo in Europe that breeds Grand Cayman Blue Iguanas. Out of the eight species of land iguanas living in the Caribbean area, this species is the most endangered one. Their natural habitat lays in a very small area in the east of the island of Grand Cayman. Their biggest enemies are the local wild cats and dogs because they either hunt the young ones or they steal eggs from nests.