Spiny-tailed Iguana (Ctenosaura similis)
One
of my Yucatan
field guides lists
the habitat for the Spiny-tailed Iguana (in part) as "on rocks, in
trees, on buildings and around archaeological ruins." I think we
saw at least two dozen of these big, gray lizards during our tour of Uxmal, and I might have taken a
picture of every one of them --- they're very photogenic.
Later, I learned that
only the mature males have the row of spines down their backs. In
the photo at the top of this post, the lizard on the right is a male
and the one on the left is probably a female.
Spiny-tailed Iguanas
blend in with their surroundings extremely well not only because they
seem to enjoy hanging out on gray rocks, but also because they can
change their skin color to match their surroundings. Some
of their smaller relatives (such as anoles)
are better color-shifters, but even the huge iguanas at Uxmal can move
pigments within individual skin cells and become lighter or darker as a
result.
Local people eat iguanas
and their eggs, a habit that dates back to the ancient Mayans.
The Mayan name for the species is "huh", which sounds a lot like my
surprised exclamation the first time I came across these mighty
lizards....
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