I have worked in many islands of the Bahamas since 1998, but the island traveled to most frequently is Mayaguana. I joined John Bendon of the UK for my first trip to Mayaguana. This was actually the first of many trips, usually accompanied with Steve Conners of Miami Metrozoo, but bringing along guests for many of the trips. The animal to be studied is the Booby Cay iguana, Cyclura carinata, the only member of the species in the Bahamas. It was originally classified as Cyclura carinata bartschi but as a result of blood samples it has officially been reclassified in 2008. Booby Cay is approximately an 18 mile boat ride from Abraham’s Bay, Mayaguana. The ride takes us from dangerous reefs encircling Mayaguana to deep, blue water with dangerous waves and currents.
Over the years, Steve and I have taken a number of transects and calculated the number of iguanas inhabiting the island to be 500-550. Booby Cay is so far removed from the mainstream that the only people traveling there are occasional fishermen. Before our annual presence, the iguanas were reviled and considered as vermin, but over the years they have come to embrace the iguanas, going as far as protecting them.
We will continue our annual trips to the island, checking on the poeple and the iguanas.
This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 4:03 pm and is filed under Wildlife Conservation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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