The Whole Picture: Marine Iguana at Española
On Española, adult marine iguanas are brightly colored with a reddish tint.
Secluded from the other islands, wildlife on Española adapted to the island’s unique environment. Therefore, Marine Iguanas from Española are the only subspecies that change colour during breeding season. These Iguanas are the only sea-going lizards in the world.
Normally, Marine Iguanas are black, which serves as a camouflage that makes it difficult for predators to distinguish iguanas from the black lava rocks they like to warm themselves on. On Española, adult marine iguanas are brightly colored with a reddish tint—except during mating season when they change to more of a greenish hue. Their striking red colour comes from a particular seaweed that blooms during the summer months, which also coincides with the their mating season.
Inspired by publications like Life Magazine, National Geographic and online experiences like Boston.com’s photo blog, images marked as ‘The Whole Picture’ are intended to highlight high-quality, amazing imagery. Kathryn and Daniel will post ‘The Whole Picture‘ irregularly. Like all of our photos, it is an original not otherwise on the site—it might be fresh from our camera, a new scan of some old film, a product of our fooling around with Photoshop, or a file from an archive that we haven’t posted yet.
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Category: Dan's Blog, Photos
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For nearly ten years now, Daniel of Two Go Round-The-World has explored how travel captures our imagination and engages our deepest emotions. One half of the duo that maintains the widely read Two Go Round-The-World blog, Daniel treats his subjects not only as works of art but also as symbols of the cultural and political forces that inspire them. Check him out on Google+.Subscribe
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Such cool creatures. And I love the expression his face – he looks like he’s thinking “yeah, yeah, go on, take another picture of me, I know I’m awesome.”
That guy looks like he’s up to no good!
Great expression on his face, it does look like he thinks he is in charge.
He looks completely different from the ones that be in my back yard. A lot more sinister like Anil said he looks up to no good.