Marine iguanas vary dramatically in size depending on the availability of algae and seaweed. Nikon D7000, Nikon 200-400mm f/4.
It’s the last day of Iguana Week here at Visual Adventures where we have celebrated the odd, yet somehow beautiful Galapagos iguanas. Check out our previous daily facts regarding these creatures along with photographs of the iguana in their native environment.
Each island in the Galapagos archipelago supports different sizes sub varieties of marine iguanas. Their size varies quite dramatically from one island to another depending on the supply of underwater algae. On islands with abundant algae, marine iguanas will grow up to five feet in length while on other islands, they may grow to just two or three feet long.
Iguana climbing up lava rocks in the Galapagos. Nikon D7000, 70-200mm f/2.8.
Even though the marine iguana’s primary diet is underwater algae and seaweed, they have been known to eat other plants on land. They don’t digest terrestrial plants as well as algae, so they don’t eat it often. Even though these animals have razor sharp teeth for scraping algae off of underwater rocks, they are quite docile and rarely use their teeth in an aggressive nature.
Our next photo adventure to the Galapagos is set for September 5-14, 2014 and this time we’re running it in conjunction with renowned photographer Tim Vollmer of Iceland. We’ve chartered our own private expedition yacht specifically for our own use during the adventure. More info and sign up here: Galapagos Photo Adventure
Iguana skeleton on basalt rocks. Nikon D800, 14-24mm f/2.8.
