El Nino spells trouble for vulnerable Galapagos iguana
Unusually warm for this time of year, the waters of the Pacific signal hard times for the reptilian inhabitants of Ecuador's iconic Galapagos Islands.
The balmy temperature is the first symptom of a new cycle of the El Nino weather phenomenon that periodically pronounces a sentence of starvation on the archipelago's marine iguanas.
Experts fear this El Nino could be one of the most intense in decades.
On the white sands of Santa Cruz island, a species called Amblyrhynchus cristatus can live for as long as 60 years, uniquely adapted among extant iguanas for ocean diving around the islands synonymous with Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
With its sharp claws and crest of back spines, the reptile resembles a prehistoric creature.
It may look tough, but it is highly susceptible to temperature fluctuations in the Pacific that affect its main food source—algae—for which it digs among rocks under water or in the shallows.
Marine iguana populations "undergo extreme fluctuations by cyclic, but unpredictably recurring, famine (El Nino) and feast (La Nina) events," according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which lists the species as vulnerable.
Last month, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced "El Nino conditions are present and are expected to gradually strengthen" as the year progresses.
The marine iguana is highly susceptible to Pacific temperature fluctuations.