Turks and Caicos Iguana Project

Turks and Caicos iguanas are the smallest species of rock iguana, making them particularly susceptible to impacts such as introductions of feral mammals onto islands. At the time of European colonization, this species was found throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands and likely numbered in the millions. Since then, increasing pressures from humans and domesticated animals have caused the extinction of iguanas on all large islands and many small cays in the Turks and Caicos. Today, the species occupies less than 5 percent of its historic range, and at least 15 island populations have gone extinct in the last 25 years. The species now numbers in the thousands, and the remaining animals are concentrated on just a few cays threatened by active development and expanding populations of invasive mammalian predators.

CRES’ past work with Turks and Caicos iguanas focused on translocating animals from two islands, where they were threatened, to four uninhabited cays within the Turks and Caicos reserve system that are free of feral mammals. This program has been extremely successful, resulting in the establishment of healthy breeding populations on each of the cays targeted for restoration.

Monitoring of these restored populations and their respective source populations is ongoing. Additionally, CRES is working with “Island Conservation” (a nonprofit organization based out of the University of California, Santa Cruz, dedicated to the restoration of island ecosystems through the removal of harmful invasive species) to implement a feral mammal control program for the Turks and Caicos, starting with Little Water, Water, and Pine cays. CRES is working with in-country partners to implement the various components of the Turks and Caicos Iguana Conservation and Management Plan (CAMP), including establishment of a range-wide monitoring program for iguanas and feral mammals.

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