We never much noticed the iguanas of Puerto Rico until we started to see them all over our property. We have seen them in our citrus trees, in the grassy areas and recently we saw a huge orange-spiked one climb our mango tree above the cabana. We are still so fascinated by these creatures we thought we should share a few pictures and videos of them.

Apparently they are not native to Puerto Rico, but have become quite an invasive now-feral species. The climate and vegetation here is perfect for them to thrive. They can cause a problem for landscaping efforts and eat some types of fruit. From what I understand, they are almost entirely vegetarian. Most people believe that they started as pets and were let go. These are the feral offspring. Some large ones can also be aggressive to humans if they feel threatened.

But so far, for us, they are just a part of the exotic background that is now our daily life and we are always amazed when we see these dinosaur looking creatures just roaming in our yard.

Iguana in the mandarin orange tree

Looking disapprovingly at us from his perch in the mango tree

We caught this one on video as he climbed through the gate and up the mango tree. So cool!