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Iguana Nesting Ecology
During phase 2 the team recorded the first information on crested iguana nests and nesting habits in the wild. In captivity the crested iguana breeds readily (Kula eco park link) and can produce multiple clutches in a single season with clutch size between two and seven eggs, with an average of four, a surprisingly small number for an iguana. On the Crested Iguana Sanctuary island of Yadua Taba, there appears to be only a single clutch laid each year in the mid-wet season (February to March), with the first hatchlings appearing at the end of October. This suggests an incubation period of seven to eight months in the field, exceptional for any lizard species.
In the wild, females come down onto the forest floor when they are ready to lay and conduct a series of test digs as they attempt to find a suitable spot for their nest burrow. If a stone or a root hampers their digging they will abandon the half finished burrow and begin a new one. The burrows are usually slightly sloping, dug 15cm into the soil, with a wider chamber at the end to accommodate the eggs. Once a burrow has been dug to a female’s satisfaction she turns around and backs into the hole to lay her eggs. Each oval egg is around 6 cm long with a leathery white shell and considering the size of the females it’s amazing that four eggs can fit in! Once she has laid her eggs the female burries the clutch, compacting the soil with her forehead before scratching leaf litter over the site to disguise it. She does this job so well that afterwards it is impossible to tell where the nest burrow was dug and so the eggs remain safe from predators underground until the next wet season and hatching time.
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