Island scientists sponsored by the International Iguana Foundation are helping to rescue the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana from extinction, potentially using tactics similar to those in the highly successful attempts to rescue the California condor nearly 20 years ago.

Such tactics would involve completely removing all remaining blue iguanas from the wild to the safety of captivity.

The Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo is one of only ten zoos or aquariums housing a total of 24 blue iguanas (plus some eggs and hatchlings) as part of the Species Survival Plan.

Fred Burton, Director of the Iguana Recovery Pogramme of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, issued a report last month estimating that there are only between ten and 25 blue iguanas left in the wild. An estimated total of 91 to 120 blue iguanas exist worldwide.

These figures make the blue iguana one of the most critically endangered reptile species in the world. Without intervention and immediate preventative measures, said the report, the surviving wild population would be functionally extinct within the next five years.

In the absence of wild sub-populations, a stable and genetically diverse captive population could be used as a hedge against extinction in the wild, a back-up population of sorts.

The success of this effort, however, requires the commitment of zoos in warm-climates, like the BAMZ, to house and breed these rare iguanas.