Adding to the iguana's eccentricities is the fact that it has unique head scales and a prominent crest. It also bobs its head -- a behavior associated with territory marking and courtship -- in a way distinct from other iguanas. "The pink iguana shows a particular and distinguished display characterized by multiple series of very rapid ups and downs of the head," Gentile said, adding that a new paper on the bizarre bobbing is in the works. He and his team also say the colorful iguana should be recognized as "critically endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, due to hunting by humans, introduction of non-native animals, and habitat loss. Gisela Caccone, a senior research scientist in ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University, and her colleagues recently discovered a new species of Galapagos giant tortoise not far from the islands' Charles Darwin Station. She told Discovery News that "the thing that continues to surprise me is the fact that even in the Galapagos, a place that is the 'Mecca' for evolutionary biologists, we still have undiscovered biodiversity not only amongst small organisms, but even for large vertebrates, as these iguanas are." Jeffrey Powell, also at Yale, echoed Caccone's view. "This is one more example that, despite their prominence in the history of evolutionary biology, there is still much to be learned about the fauna and flora of Galapagos," Powell told Discovery News. Related Links: |
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