Conservation Measures
Although Little Water Cay is home to over 2,000 Turks and Caicos rock iguanas, they have been wiped out from the other cays in their former range. Little Water Cay is now a nature reserve and neither dogs nor cats are permitted on the island to ensure the survival of the critically endangered species.
In 2000 scientists from the San Diego Zoo's division of Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES), under the direction of Conservation Research Fellow Dr. Glenn Gerber translocated 218 iguanas from Big Ambergris and Little Water Cay where their populations were threatened to four uninhabited cays within the Turks and Caicos reserve system.
To date, these iguanas have experienced a 98 percent survival rate; they have adapted to new conditions and even successfully reproduced the immediate breeding season. Yearling iguanas resulting from the reproduction of the original translocated adults from 2002 are exceeding the size of their counterparts on the source Cays from which their ancestors were translocated by as much as 400%.
Legislation to protect the iguanas has been drafted by the Turks and Caicos government in 2003. Additionally, the National Trust for the Turks and Caicos Islands has stewardship for the Little Water Cay to ensure that it is not mismanaged and has initiated a program to remove feral cats from Pine Cay and Water Cay.
Read more about this topic: Turks And Caicos Rock Iguana
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