Trivia question for May-14-2011

Olivia is up again and this time she picked a species because they have the same color on their skin as we have in our logo…  Lets see how good her research is.  These guys are the largest lizards in South America.  Their long whiplike tail is used as a weapon in fights, and as a propeller when they are swimming.

These lizards are diurnal, arboreal, and are often found near water.  Agile climbers, they can fall up to 50 feet and land unhurt. They use their hind leg claws to clasp leaves and branches to break a fall.  When frightened by a predator, these guys will attempt to flee, and if near a body of water, they dive into it and swim away. If cornered by a threat, they will extend and display the dewlap under its neck, stiffen and puff up its body, hiss, and bob its head at the aggressor. If threat persists they can lash with its tail, bite and use its claws in defense.

So here are Olivia’s questions:  Tell us what happens to the body color of a male of this species when it loses a fight, and also tell us what they do during a cold spell.  We also learned a special trick that the locals use to hunt these guys, tell us what that special trick is.

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to Carmel for getting our trivia correct and for providing us with insight to how these lizards have come to invade Florida.  Thanks for the information 😉  The lizard we featured is the Green Iguana.  The Green Iguana or Common Iguana is a large, arboreal herbivorous species of lizard native to Central and South America. The green iguana ranges over a large geographic area, from southern Brazil and Paraguay to as far north as Mexico and the Caribbean Islands; and in the United States as feral populations in South Florida (including the Florida Keys), Hawaii, and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

These guys are typically the bright green we all have come to know them by but when a male Iguana loses a fight, its body color actually darkens.  During a cold spell, the green iguana comes down from the trees and hides under logs or in holes to stay warm.  In certain parts of Latin America, green iguanas are hunted by men imitating the screams of hawks.  The cries make iguanas ‘freeze’ and they are then easily caught.  Here is more on these hearty lizards: Green Iguana

Thanks for playing along 😉