A population of yellow iguanas on the Galapagos Islands, which between 1970 and 1980 was on the verge of extinction due to goats introduced into Cartago Bay, has recovered to the point that “the current population status is encouraging,” according to the Galapagos National Park (PNG) on October 7, 2024. In the statement, the Galapagos National Park detailed that from August 26 to September 3, 2024, a team of park rangers and experts from the Galapagos Conservancy organization carried out monitoring for yellow iguanas in Cartago Bay, located in the south of Isabela Island, the largest in the archipelago.

In total, the team located and obtained data on 288 yellow land iguanas, of which 117 were females and 171 were males. Fifty percent of the iguanas had not been previously tagged, while the rest already had identification microchips. Some of the monitored iguanas were born in captivity and were repatriated to Cartago as part of the reproduction program that the environmental authority has been carrying out since 1970. “Current monitoring confirms the long-term success of this program,” said the National Park.

The analysis of the data collected determines that in Bahía Cartago, located on the Perry Isthmus, there is a population of yellow iguanas that ranges between 600 and 700 individuals, concentrated mainly in 40 hectares. The eradication of feral goats at the beginning of the millennium favored the regeneration of native vegetation, thus improving the availability of food for the iguanas.

The yellow iguana (Conolophus suscriptatus) is one of three species of land iguanas that live in the Galapagos archipelago, located about 1,000 kilometers from the continental coast of Ecuador, and declared the first natural heritage of humanity in 1978 by UNESCO. This archipelago made up of thirteen large islands is considered one of the best-preserved marine reserves in the world and a natural laboratory that inspired the British scientist Charles Darwin to develop his theory of natural selection and evolution of species in the 19th century.