Galapagos land iguana eating a cactus

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  Mr Gharial

• 2 Jan 2023

Oh, wow!

Do you have any information on this individual or where it came from?

 

V

• V

  Veno

• 2 Jan 2023

@Mr Gharial
I only know that the 8 founders are from Uganda.
As an aside, yesterday, when I asked the director if he still kept the marine iguana, he said he sold it to a dealer. So, the marine iguana was distributed in the Japanese pet industry.

 

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  Chlidonias

• 2 Jan 2023

@Mr Gharial have a search on the forum for Thomas Price in Uganda - Marine and Land Iguanas are smuggled out of the Galapagos, laundered through other countries into Price's "Conservation Centre" in Uganda, and then on-sold from there as "captive-bred".

 

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  King of Komodo Dragons

• 9 May 2023

I wonder If Houston Zoo knew about these, would have they tried to import some for the Galapagos exhibit (assuming they are captive bred and not "captive-bred" aka smuggled)

 

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  TinoPup

• 9 May 2023

@King of Komodo Dragons No. They are all smuggled.

 

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  Nix

• 9 May 2023

@TinoPup @King of Komodo Dragons Yes, the founder's stocks were smuggled. However, several animals have been hatched in captivity at the Ugandan facility.

 

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  Mr Gharial

• 9 May 2023

Smuggling is horrible, of course. But if the land iguanas are breeding and could eventually be shipped to other facilities, then we might actually be able to set up a breeding program.

 

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  Nix

• 9 May 2023

Obtaining captive-bred land iguanas would mean collaborating with a convicted smuggler, which I think no zoo or zoo organization is keen on doing.

 

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  Mr Gharial

• 9 May 2023

If only the Galapagos was willing to set up a collaborate breeding program for their iguanas, like the Cayman islands did

 

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  TinoPup

• 9 May 2023

@Nix Captive-bred animals would still fall under the smuggling, and which Houston would have never considered importing.