{"id":31363,"date":"2025-03-21T07:30:20","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T02:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=31363"},"modified":"2025-04-16T11:21:58","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T05:51:58","slug":"iguana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/iguana\/","title":{"rendered":"Iguana"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Iguana Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>Voyage of the Iguanas: How They Traveled from the Americas to Fiji<\/p>\n<h2>What Are Iguanas?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Iguanas<\/strong> are <strong>large, stout lizards<\/strong> primarily found in <strong>tropical regions of the Americas<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>They have <strong>scaly skin covered in warts<\/strong>, <strong>spines along their back<\/strong>, and a <strong>flap of flesh (dewlap) under their necks<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Iguanas exhibit <strong>various colour morphs<\/strong>, including <strong>green, blue, and grey<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>They are <strong>herbivores<\/strong> and have <strong>adapted to different environments<\/strong>, from <strong>deserts to rainforests<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Geographic Range<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Native Habitat<\/strong>: Found throughout <strong>Central and South America<\/strong>, from <strong>Mexico to Paraguay and Brazil<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Introduced regions<\/strong>: Established populations in <strong>Florida, Hawaii, and Caribbean islands<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Largest Lizard in the USA<\/strong>: It is the <strong>largest lizard species<\/strong> found within <strong>U.S. borders<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Arboreal Species<\/strong>: Primarily <strong>tree-dwelling (canopy layers)<\/strong>, rarely descending except for nesting.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Preferred Environments<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Forests &amp; Rainforests<\/strong> (terrestrial biomes).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rivers, Lakes &amp; Coastal Waters<\/strong> (aquatic biomes).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Wetlands (swamps)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Urban &amp; Agricultural Areas<\/strong> (suburban adaptability).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Conservation Status<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>IUCN Red List<\/strong>: <strong>Not Threatened<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>CITES Listing<\/strong>: <strong>Appendix II<\/strong> (regulated trade).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Threats to Population<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Overexploitation for <strong>pet trade &amp; leather industry<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0<strong>Habitat destruction<\/strong> due to deforestation and urbanization.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How Did Iguanas Reach Fiji?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A recent study published in the <strong>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/strong> suggests that the <strong>ancestors of Fijian iguanas<\/strong> travelled nearly <strong>8,000 km across the Pacific Ocean<\/strong> on <strong>rafts of floating vegetation<\/strong> from the <strong>Americas<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Theory of Rafting: Rafting is a process where animals hitch a ride on floating vegetation across oceans.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Common among <strong>small invertebrates<\/strong>, but rare for <strong>large vertebrates<\/strong> due to survival challenges.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Previous Evidence of Iguana Rafting<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>1995 Caribbean Observation<\/strong>: Scientists saw <strong>15 green iguanas<\/strong> raft <strong>over 300 km<\/strong> on hurricane debris.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gal\u00e1pagos Iguanas<\/strong>: Likely rafted <strong>1,000 km from South America<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Fijian crossing was nearly 8 times longer<\/strong>, making it an <strong>extraordinary event<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Iguana FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1.<\/strong> What is an Iguana?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> Iguanas are large, herbivorous lizards native to Central and South America. They belong to the Iguanidae family and are known for their spiny crests, strong tails, and sharp claws.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2. <\/strong>What is the ecological significance of Iguanas?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> Iguanas play a crucial role in seed dispersal and maintaining vegetation balance in their ecosystems. They help control plant growth and serve as prey for predators.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3. <\/strong>Why is the Marine Iguana unique?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> The Marine Iguana is the only lizard adapted to a marine environment. It feeds on algae, can dive underwater, and has specialized salt glands to excrete excess salt.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-sci-tech\/voyage-of-the-iguanas-how-they-travelled-from-americas-to-fiji-9897398\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iguanas are large, herbivorous lizards native to Central and South America. They belong to the Iguanidae family and are known for their spiny crests, strong tails, and sharp claws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}