Green iguana

The green iguana is a big, friendly-looking lizard with a long tail and a row of little spikes down its back. It lives in the warm forests of Central and South America, where it climbs high into the trees to sit in the sunshine. Even though it is called green, an iguana can also look brown, grey, or orange, and its colour can change a little with its mood and the warmth of the day.

Iguanas love to be up in the treetops. They are wonderful climbers and spend most of their day resting on branches high above the ground, coming down mainly to warm up or to lay eggs. They like to live near rivers and ponds too, because they are also excellent swimmers.

Green iguanas are plant eaters. They munch on leaves, flowers, fruit, and soft new shoots, and grown-up iguanas hardly ever eat meat at all. They warm their bodies in the sun first, because a warm iguana has a much better appetite than a cold one.

An iguana has a clever trick to stay safe. If a hungry animal grabs its tail, the tail can come off so the iguana can dash away, and then a new tail slowly grows back over the next year. When one is frightened it may also splash into the water and swim away with strong sweeps of its tail.

There are still plenty of green iguanas living in the wild, so experts call them “least concern.” Even so, the forests they need are sometimes cut down, and iguanas are hunted for food in some places. Looking after the trees and riverbanks where they live helps keep these gentle lizards happy and safe.