Turks and Caicos Iguana Restoration Program
The Turks and Caicos iguana now occupies less than five percent of its historic range.
The critically endangered Turks and Caicos iguana Cyclura carinata is the smallest of the Caribbean rock iguanas and hence the most vulnerable to predation by introduced mammals. Once widespread throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands, the iguana now occupies less than five percent of its historic range, and island populations continue to be lost at an alarming rate. In response to this crisis, the Applied Conservation Division of the San Diego Zoo's CRES, the Turks and Caicos National Trust, and the Turks and Caicos Department of Environment and Coastal Resources initiated an in-depth conservation program to restore Turks and Caicos iguanas to key portions of their former range.
Beginning in 2000, Conservation Research Fellow Dr. Glenn Gerber undertook the translocation of 218 animals from islands where they are currently threatened to four uninhabited cays within the Turks and Caicos reserve system. In collaboration with other CRES researchers and in-country partners, Dr. Gerber is carrying out long-term ecological monitoring of restored populations, nutritional analysis of food plants, health and hormone evaluations, genetic studies, and educational outreach. The comprehensive nature of the proposed work, with its emphasis on long-term monitoring, ensures that the translocation program has a high probability of success. The information gathered through Dr. Gerber’s studies will allow researchers to better determine the range of factors most important for successful translocations.
To date, the translocated iguanas have experienced a 98 percent survival rate. Nesting activity has also been observed on all of the translocation cays and hatchlings have been caught on each cay, providing evidence of successful reproduction. Further, yearling iguanas resulting from the reproduction of adults translocated in 2002 now exceed the size of two- to four-year-old juveniles from their respective source populations. Ongoing research on restored populations and their respective source populations continues to provide valuable information about iguana population ecology, as well as new insights into improved translocation methodologies. In 2003, CRES worked with government officials, private businesses, and international iguana conservation experts to produce a detailed five-year management plan to conserve and restore populations of the Turks and Caicos iguana and perpetuate it as a symbol of national pride and sound environmental management.
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Anegada Iguana Headstart Program
Turks and Caicos Iguana Translocation Project
