Conservation success story - Grand Cayman blue iguana is back from the brink of extinction

         Credit: Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation Society.

We constantly hear about species on the brink of extinction. In many cases efforts to save them seem a distant possibility. Here is a rarity in conservation, a conservation effort that bucks the trend.

Blue Iguana Recovery Program in Cayman Island is well on its way to success. Blue iguana is the largest native species of Cayman Island. Coordinated by the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, the Blue Iguana Recovery Program—a consortium of local and international partners—has successfully released more than 500 captive-bred reptiles since the initiative's inception in 2002. In 2002 wild population of iguanas numbered less than two dozen. Conservationists expect to reach their goal of 1,000 iguanas in managed protected areas in the wild in a few years.


Recovery efforts to save the Grand Cayman blue iguana have mostly centered on the Salina Reserve, a 625-acre nature reserve located on the eastern side of the island. This year the efforts move on to newly established Colliers Wilderness Reserve also.