NO NEED TO FEEL BLUE

Things are looking up for The Cayman Islands’ most iconic reptile.

Cyclura lewisi, otherwise known as the Blue Iguana, was a Critically Endangered species with as few as 30 individuals left on the planet in 1990. Fast forward thirty years and endless hours of dedicated conservation work and the picture for the blue iguana, is looking increasingly optimistic.

With the assistance of various sponsors across the world, the National Trust Cayman Islands established an in-situ breeding programme for the 30 remaining iguanas. As this species only inhabits Grand Cayman, authorities were able to successfully replicate wild conditions within a facility that allowed for the rearing and study of C. lewisi. The project reached a milestone in 2018 when the 1000 iguanas which were raised in captivity were released into the wild. At this point the ‘Blue Iguana Recovery Programme’ transitioned to become ‘Blue Iguana Conservation’ and phase 2 of saving the species in their wild environments quickly ensued.

“The blue iguana is a conservation-dependant species” explains Luke Harding, Conservation Director at Blue Iguana Conservation. “The story of their recovery from less than 30 animals is one of true conservation optimism, however all we have done through this remarkable achievement is to buy the species time, whilst we try to understand and mitigate the threats that continue to drive them back toward extinction.”

Although far from complete, the programme represents a major success for captive breeding efforts across the world. Usually considered as a last resort for many species facing extinction, captive breeding with the ambition to release animals into the wild has provided one last lifeline for the blue iguana. However, as any keeper from zoos or the private sector is aware, captive breeding projects are extremely demanding and regularly present challenges.

Luke continued: “The captive breeding and release of over 1,000 blue iguanas was a huge achievement and milestone, not only for this project, but also for all species conservation projects.

Breeding 1,000 animals takes a huge amount of dedication, time, and resources. The history of Cayman’s blue iguanas is a great example of not paying attention to a species decline until it is nearly too late. The first conservation efforts for blue iguanas began thirty years ago, when nothing was known about the species or its husbandry requirements. This meant it was a huge challenge through trial and error to learn how to keep and breed this species successfully in captivity and over time learn the difference between keeping the species alive and breeding against keeping them optimally and producing fit and healthy iguanas over generations.”

“Another major challenge faced with this programme and the small number of founders is ensuring that you maintain genetics and stop inbreeding. Blue Iguana Conservation has been lucky to have been managed under the expert supervision of Tandora Grant who has managed the population since 2001. Detailed genetic research shows that the management and meticulous preservation of founder lines has meant that the on-island captive population has not expressed an inbreeding depression, therefore demonstrating a successful, genetically viable conservation breeding programme to date.”