IGUANA

This article appears in Volume V14, Page 296 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: I27-INV

IGUANA , systematically Iguanidae (Spanish quivalent of Carib iwana), a family of pleurodont lizards, comprising about 50 genera and 300 species. With three exceptions, all the genera of this extensive family belong to the New World, being specially characteristic of the Neotropical region, where they occur as far

south

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

as Patagonia, while extending northward into the warmer parts of the Nearctic regions as far as California and
British

Columbia

COLUMBIA

. The exceptional genera are Brachylophus in the Fiji Islands, Hoplurus and Chalarodon in Madagascar. The iguanas are characterized by the peculiar form of their teeth, these being round at the root and blade-like, with serrated edges towards the tip, resembling in this respect the gigantic

extinct

EXTINCT

reptile Iguanodon. The typical forms belonging to this family are distinguished by the large dewlap or pouch situated beneath the head and neck, and by the crest, composed of slender elongated scales, which extends in gradually diminishing height from the nape of the neck to the extremity of the tail. The latter organ is very

long

LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

, slender and compressed. The tongue is generally short and not deeply divided at its extremity, nor is its base retracted into a sheath; it is always moist and covered with a glutinous secretion. The prevailing colour of the iguanas is green; and, as the

majority

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

of them are arboreal in their habits, such colouring is generally regarded as pro-
tective. Those on the other hand which reside on the ground have much duller, although as a

rule

RULE

equally protective hues. Some iguanas, however (e.g. Anolis carolinensis), possess, to an extent only exceeded by the

chameleon

CHAMELEON

, the power of changing their colours, their brilliant green becoming transformed under the influence of fear or irritation, into more sombre hues and even into black. They differ greatly in size, from a few inches to several feet in length.
One of the largest and most widely distributed is the common iguana (Iguana tuberculata), which occurs in the tropical parts of Central and

South

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

America and the West Indies, with the closely allied I. rhinolophus. It attains a length of 6 ft., weighing then perhaps 30 lb, and is of a greenish colour, occasionally mixed with brown, while the tail is surrounded with alternate rings of those colours. Its food consists of vegetable substances, mostly leaves, which it obtains from the forest trees among whose branches it lives and in the hollows of which it deposits its eggs. These are of an oblong shape about 4 in. in length, and are said by travellers to be very pleasant eating, especially when taken raw, and mixed with farina. They are timid, defenceless animals, depending for safety on the

comparative

COMPARATIVE

inaccessibility of their arboreal haunts, and their protective colouring, which is rendered even more effective by their remaining still on the approach of danger. But the favourite resorts of the iguana are trees which overhang the
water, into which they let themselves fall with a splash, whatever the height of the tree, and then swim away, or hide at the bottom for many minutes. Otherwise they exhibit few signs of animal intelligence. " The iguana," says H. W. Bates (The Naturalist on the

Amazons

AMAZONS

), " is one of the stupidest animals I ever met. The one I caught dropped helplessly from a tree just ahead of me; it turned round for a moment to have an idiotic stare at the intruder and then set off running along the path. I ran

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