Ten Iguanas Loose in the Scrubland

José Marín was walking alone through the scrubland when the dry leaf litter began to move. It wasn't the wind — it was baby iguanas, ten of them, darting through the undergrowth with that nervous velocity that young animals have when they sense someone watching. They vanished into the toothed leaves and tangled climbing vines, reappeared a moment further on, then disappeared again. The discovery took place on May 15th at coordinates 10.4446035, -75.2560432, in a sector of dense vegetation where the low canopy filters the light and the ground stays dry. The green iguana (Iguana iguana) is a species that faces pressure from hunting and habitat loss throughout the Caribbean region, which makes finding a cohort of active, healthy hatchlings a genuinely good piece of news for the ecosystem. José never did find the nest, but it didn't matter. Ten young iguanas running free through the scrubland of Fundación Loros told their own story.