Baja california spiny-tailed iguana
Ctenosaura hemilopha, also known as the Baja California spiny-tailed iguana, is a species of spinytail iguana endemic to Baja California. It is arboreal and primarily herbivorous, although it can be an opportunistic carnivore. Males may grow up to 100 centimeters (39 in) in length, while females are smaller, with a length of up to 70 centimeters (28 in). Five subspecies are currently recognized.
The existence of mainland and insular populations of this species has been valuable in providing biologists with study and control groups comparing the evolution of island populations and their mainland counterparts. The San Esteban Island subspecies (C.h. conspicuosa ) coexists with the giant San Esteban chuckwalla, contrary to predictions of ecological niche theory.
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HerbivoreA herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
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FolivoreIn zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less ...
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FrugivoreA frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts, and seeds. Approx...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some anima...
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withThe cape spinytail iguana has a green or yellow coloring when young and turns whitish gray with age. As this animal matures it can be white or light gray in color with black chevrons, depending on heat conditions or even the animal's temper.
Males achieve a maximum length of 100 centimeters (39 in), while females are typically 30% smaller at 70 centimeters (28 in). Males develop large jowls and a dorsal crest made up of larger dorsal spines, making the animal sexually dimorphic.
It is believed that these iguanas may have ended up on the Baja peninsula and the islands because early Seri Indian inhabitants transported them there from the mainland as food sources thousands of years ago. This theory is based on the fact that the coastal distribution on the mainland ends 115 km south of Isla San Esteban. Contrary to predictions from ecological niche theory, the species coexists with the giant San Esteban chuckwalla on San Esteban Island. The two species forage for the same plants in the same habitat at the same time of day during the same season, with neither species displacing the other.
The cape spinytail iguana makes its den in old woodpecker nests in giant columnar cacti, and in other tree cavities. The most important factors determining the choice of cactus are the existence of other holes, and the cactus height because these types of refuges allow the lizards to feed and bask on the tree, minimizing the risk of predation.
The existence of mainland and insular populations of this species has been valuable in providing biologists with study and control groups comparing the evolution of island populations.
Like most iguanids, the cape spinytail iguana is primarily herbivorous, eating flowers, leaves, stems, fruit, and cactus such as the bushy Jatropha cuneata and the taller, spindly Solanum hindsianum. They will opportunistically eat smaller animals, eggs, and arthropods.
