The prototype of "Godzilla" in the movie is hideous and terrifying, but it is a gentle vegetarian.
When it comes to reptiles, people always think of words such as "horror" and "cold-blooded". Most reptiles are carnivorous animals and are the best hunters on the planet, such as crocodiles and lizards and , etc. However, reptiles are not necessarily carnivorous animals. Some reptiles are absolutely vegetarians. Although they look scary, they are gentle and feed on plants. The Iguana family's marine iguana is such an animal.
American iguana family, widely distributed,
American iguana is a special type of lizard. They are huge in size and are mostly vegetarians. Maritime iguanas belong to members of the American iguana family. The habitat environment of the species in the American Iguanae is varied, and it is distributed from the ocean, rainforest to deserts. This is due to a series of adaptation evolutions of its body shape, appearance or color to the environment. The animals in this family range from 10 cm to 2 meters in length and have a long tail, which is generally used to defend themselves and maintain body balance while crawling.
Green iguana is the most common animal in the American iguana family and the most common pet in the crawling market. They are huge, strong and covered with scales. Each foot has 5 fingers with long claws. The spiked crown extends from the neck to the tail and can reach a height of 5 cm. green iguanas have black ring-shaped patterns on their tails, which is one of the most important features to identify them.
The tail of the Iguanaaceae can be used for crawling or as a whip to defend itself in critical moments. Because of the self-interruption system, which is to truncate the tail by muscle collection, they can escape smoothly when necessary, but unlike geckos, their tails do not have the ability to regenerate.
The prototype of the monster
Marine iguanas look terrifying. Their faces are hideous and terrifying. They have gray-black scales all over their bodies, and crest-shaped bulges on their backs. Many animals are often "cute" in childhood, but marine iguanas are an exception. The newborn marine iguana is a microcosm of adult marine iguanas. It has all the characteristics of an adult marine iguana and looks like a "shrinkable version" marine iguana. 's terrifying marine iguanas are very similar to the "Godzilla Monster" in movies and TV shows. Many people think they are the prototypes of crawling monsters in movies.
marine iguanas are a type of medium and large lizards, and their size is generally around 0.5 meters to 1 meter. There are obvious differences in marine iguanas on different islands, especially in terms of living habits and body shape. On San Fernando, male marine iguanas weigh 11 kg, while on Genoa few marine iguanas weigh more than 1 kg. The reason why has body shape differences is generally caused by local environmental differences. Marine iguanas living near deeper sea waters are generally larger in size.
Absolute vegetarian
Although marine iguanas look horrible, like the Godzilla monster in the movie, they are a kind of reptile with a gentle personality. Marine iguanas never prey on animals and are absolutely herbivorous. To adapt to their food, their bodies undergo a series of evolutions, with flat faces and short and sharp teeth, allowing them to quickly tear off seaweed from stones. The teeth are three-pointed, arranged in a simple row along the edge of the jaw bone, and are very close to the scaly mouth. By decorating marine iguanas, they found that their teeth are relatively flat, much like human teeth-eating, without sharp teeth as sharp as crocodiles or giant lizards, which means they are vegetarians.
Military iguanas of different sizes eat different foods. Generally, larger marine iguanas feed on seaweed in the sea, but this is not the case with older and smaller sea lizards. Smaller marine iguanas cannot dive. Scientists have discovered whether marine iguanas can penetrate the ocean and eat seaweed. The limit is about 1.8 kg. Only when the marine iguana weighs 1.8 kg can dive and prey. It is not possible to be below this standard. Adult marine iguanas can dive into sea water up to more than 12 meters deep. But generally, they dive into the water during low tide for food for no more than 10 minutes. The young marine iguanas will not enter the water because they are too small and the heat will be quickly lost, and the ocean may slap them into deep water, which is very dangerous for young marine iguanas.
Perfect evolution
In order to adapt to marine life, marine iguanas have undergone a series of "perfect evolution". As a warm-inducing animal, marine iguanas must obtain enough heat before they are launched. Generally, before or after entering the water, several marine iguanas will gather together to bask in the sun to increase body temperature. Marine iguanas spend most of their time in the sea, they dive into the water foraging and can adapt to the water environment, the Galapagos marine iguanas can withstand the coldness of the sea water and have gland tissues in their bodies that reduce excess salt. When swimming, your heartbeat will slow down, which will reduce the loss of heat in the body.
marine iguana spiny coronary ridge males have more significant ridges. This is why the scientific name comes from. The crown crest on the back of marine iguanas is not for beauty. The crown ridges and scales, nodules and conical protrusions on their backs can absorb sunlight and achieve the purpose of attracting the opposite sex during mating. The dull body color of the marine iguana can absorb more sun heat to resist the coldness of the sea water. Their limbs are longer than other lizards and are very strong, with hard claws on their toes, which can help them find food on the shallow seabed. The hard claws allow them to hold onto the stone firmly and even resist strong water flows. The marine iguana is the diving champion of the reptile family. When foraging, they can dive for 60 minutes.
The marine iguana moves clumsy when crawling on land. But once you dive into the water, you can swim flexibly, although it won't move very fast. In order to forage in the water by swimming, their bodies have undergone a series of adaptation evolutions: flat tails, spiny dorsal fins. When swimming, the body moves sideways in a wavy shape.
Mating and reproduction
During the breeding period, male marine iguanas will fight fiercely for female marine iguanas. is particularly rare in nesting places, so many females often build nesting together. They produce 1 to 6 eggs in sandy nests, and the hatching period lasts for 2 to 3 months. Young marine iguanas often hide in cracks on the coast to avoid attacks from similar and other birds.
Currently, the population of marine iguanas has been threatened and has been rated as a "visible" species. Due to the large-scale hunting of humans, their population has dropped sharply. In addition, the main reasons for threatening marine iguanas are habitat pollution and the death of a large number of marine iguanas due to El Niño phenomenon, environmental changes and pollutants. Although many American governments have provided legal protection for marine iguanas, they are still in an extremely dangerous state.
