Land Iguanas have been rewilded and are already reproducing on Santiago Island in the Galápagos National Park , 187 age after a healthy universe was last spotted there by Charles Darwin .
Over the past three years , theGalápagos National Parkhas released 3,143 Land Iguanas ( Conolophus subcristatus ) to Santiago Island , one of the Galápagos Islands late off the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific .
So far it looks like a immense success , with the lizard ’ reintroduction already changing the dynamics of the ecosystem for the better .
Researchers studying the reintroduced Galápagos Land Iguana stands on Santiago Island. Image courtesy of @Galapagos National Park
“ They have open up path , removed the ground , dispersed the seed , and this is changing the moral force ; but the not bad results will be observed in a few more year , ” Dr Luis Ortíz - Catedral , a scientific adviser of the Galápagos National Park Directorate ( GNPD ) responsible for the undertaking , said in astatement .
Most supporting of all , the team discovered individuals in July that had n’t been labeled or documented , indicating that the universe is healthy and reproducing .
“ There has been grounds of reproduction of the common iguana in Santiago , which indicates that their reintroduction procedure has been successful , ” explained Dr Jorge Carrión , the Director of Conservation of the Galápagos Conservancy .
The Galápagos Land Iguana is considered vulnerable to extinction by theIUCN Red List . While the species can be recover in larger issue of other islands of the Galápagos , the last metre a goodly population was document on Santiago was in 1830s by Darwin .
The Galápagos Islands have almost become synonymous with Darwin . He spent five week on the island in 1835 as part of the 2nd ocean trip of HMS Beagle , a gigantic journey that spanned from 1831 to 1836 with the aim of surveying the seacoast of South America .
When noticing the rich array of biodiversity that was similar from island to island , yet perfectly adapted to each freestanding environment , it turbocharged the ideas that led him to the hypothesis of evolution by means of natural option .
hard fourth dimension have fallen on the Galápagos Islands in late age , unfortunately . bust up with worry ranging frominvasive speciestopollution , the islands have seen a number of theiranimal populations sputter .
gratefully , a number ofrecent conservation projectshave helped to turn the lunar time period and the island ’s biodiversity is jump to recoil back .
“ The process of bionomic refurbishment of Santiago Island begin several tenner ago when efforts began to extirpate the population of feral hog , goats , and donkey , an object lens that the GNPD accomplish in 2006 . Although the challenge to restore the ecologic unity of the island entirely are still gravid , the return of the Land Iguanas is a primal step , as it represents afford back to the ecosystem the missing patch to reestablish its unity , ” added Wacho Tapia , General Director of the Galápagos Conservancy .
