Galapagos New Pink Iguanas

Charles Darwin did not discover them in 1835 but now a new iguana species has been found on the island of Galapagos: the rosada land iguana.

A pink and black-striped pattern sets the iguana apart from the yellow land iguanas found previously on the islands. They are located on the Volcan Wolf volcano on the island of Isabela, the only place where the pink iguanas live.

The rare land iguanas were first seen, in fact, only in 1986, when one was spotted by park rangers on Volcan Wolf on the island of Isabela. Now, with more finds, their discovery has been announced.

Volcan Wolf volcano may yet turn up more surprises for researchers on the Galapagos. Scientists earlier found that a giant tortoise species marked as extinct has lived on through hybrid descendants in the same region.

The discoverer is Gabriele Gentile of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. He and colleagues say that the pink iguana is distinct from the two recognized species of land iguana on the Galápagos.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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