Iguana Origin: Where Do Iguanas Come From?

Iguanas are one of the most popular lizards in the world so you can make them as your pet. Almost all people in the world who loves lizard like to have one because iguanas are a unique type of pet in the world.

But where do iguanas really originate from right? These are some of the questions that are popping in our mind when we first heard the word “iguana”. Iguana is basically a distant relative of the lizard.

Iguanas are native to the tropical areas of South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, with a diversity that spans across various ecosystems. Let’s take a closer look at these habitats.

Forests: From the tropical rainforests of Costa Rica to the deciduous forests of Paraguay, iguanas are comfortable tree-dwellers, skillfully navigating the forest canopy. Their strong, prehensile tails and sharp claws help them swing between branches and climb trees with ease.

Deserts: Here’s a twist! Iguanas are not just forest creatures. Some species, like the spiny-tailed iguana, have adapted to life in the deserts of Mexico. They’re expert burrowers, digging deep tunnels to escape the desert heat.

Coastal Regions: Take the marine iguana as an example. They’ve adapted to the coastal ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands, diving underwater for their seaweed meals (Laurie J. Vitt, Janalee P. Caldwell, 2014).

Throughout these habitats, iguanas exhibit amazing adaptability, a testament to their resilience and tenacity. Understanding these environments gives us precious insight into their lifestyle, behavior, and even dietary habits.

Historical Background of Iguanas

Iguanas are first described by Joseph Nicolaus Laurenti an Austrian naturalist in his book in 1768. The genus iguana includes two species these are lesser Antillean and the green iguana. The word “iguana” is developed from a Spanish form of the original Taino name for the species “Iwana”. From then on many people think that iguanas are cool pets.

Believe it or not, iguanas have been gracing our planet for millions of years! In fact, fossils discovered in South America indicate that the ancestors of our pet iguanas roamed the earth during the age of dinosaurs (De Vosjoli, Philippe, 1992).

The Iguana Lifestyle

Iguanas like staying in an environment with high humid and temperatures and proper lighting. Iguanas live in trees and lie around the sun. They only eat vegetables from different species and kinds of flowers, leaves and even fruits. They lay eggs like turtles. The eggs are buried by the mother in the sand once the eggs hatch they are on their own.

Iguanas can grow up to 5 to 6 feet and 15 to 18 pounds. Iguanas are cold-blooded animals and it requires proper heat and temperatures. Iguanas prefer 89-90 degrees during the day and 70-77 degrees at the night. If the reptile is cold, it’s possible that it cannot properly digest its food and it might become ill.

There are ways on how we can produce artificial heat first is the primary heat source, it is necessary to keep the temperature on the entire cage. A series of incandescent lights over the cage is one of the best heat sources, maybe putting a heating pad that can be placed under the cage. A heating pad is basically a ceramic infrared that produces heat.

Iguanas also need sunlight or UV rays because if you deprived them of sunlight they might get ill and they can develop a disease called Metabolic bone disease a rare kind of disease in lizards. Proper sanitation for the iguanas because if not they might be a carrier of Salmonela Bacteria and other sort of disease that might also affect people.

Iguanas are one of the most adored pets in the world today. It’s important that we must know how take good care of them because if we don’t its better not to have them at all. Iguanas are very tough to handle. We must remember the important things when it comes to proper care and housing of iguanas. We have to consider a lot of things when we want to adapt iguanas as our pet. It needs a lot of care and maintenance because if we don’t provide them their proper needs, they might get ill and develop some diseases and thereby suffer malnutrition or poor health condition.