Bigger is Better?

Male C. similis. Females lack spikes and the large heads of the males but the female sexual selection provides the impetus for such attributes in males. Generally in this species, bigger is better!

Iguana Bling: Who Are You, Anyway?

Photo by Andy Jones, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 2008.

My research requires knowing which iguana I'm observing (as well as who is related to whom, but more on that, later). Iguanas are identified and marked with colored beads, strung on a wire, and inserted through the nuchal crest. It's a bit like getting your ear pierced. Once marked, the proud male above would sport 3 colored beads on each side below his spikes -- we'll be able to tell him from his buddies using binoculars. This is an identification system lizard researchers have used for decades.

Glass beads are UV stable. They are also impervious to Colorado winter winds, cold, and snow. (Who knew?) The ring below has been outside for several months. The chart is a code of  3-bead identifications, like Green-Red-Green (G-R-G) or Red-White-Blue (R-W-B).


Each iguana will also receive a PIT tag, a passive integrated transponder tag (I know, you thought PIT tag would be like PIN number) that most know as a microchip for pets. It serves the same purpose -- even without the beads, the animal will be known.

And then there will be the inevitable house names. G-R-G might end up as Geri. Red-White-Blue might end up with an Americanized patriotic lizard. Martha? George?

The ID system is lo-hi tech, the best of both worlds.

Typhoid Mary....Or Why I'm Taking the Pill

There it is -- 8 days and I'll be vaccinated against typhoid. There is an injection but while most people end up protected against the illness, they may still be a carrier. Doesn't sound very nice to me: "Hey, I'm good. You're sick? Sorry."

You take a dose every other day and if you can keep it in your system for at least 2 hours without vomiting, and do that for at least 3 doses, you're covered. I can see why people opt for a shot. So far so good today though the stomach is off a bit.

This isn't to protect me from the great supposed horrors of Costa Rica but from other travelers who may bring a bug with them from an entirely different country. 

Passport to SCIENCE

Pasaporte Cientifico

Yesterday my shopping excursion included a sampling of colored fishing 'bobbers'. C. similis have good color vision and this may be just the lure needed to coax them to a net or noose. (I thank my good friend Jill J. for this useful field technique.)

Today my official permissions arrived from the Ministry of the Environment and Energy of Costa Rica. Permissions are important --  just as we wouldn't want anyone showing up and conducting research in a US National Park, my work had to pass muster with the CR government. My research proposal was translated into Spanish by an intern from the Colorado Box Turtle Project, Caitlin W., who is a graduate student in Biology at Missouri State University. Science is never a solitary endeavor.

Male C. similis

 What will it mean to study this lizard for the long haul? While I don't have as alliterative a phrase, I plan this will be much like Meerkat Manor. I'll know all the players in my groups, who associates with which other iguanas, which individual lizards leave and join other groups, where they go when they leave, and when they die. Observing overlapping generations will allow me to analyse new and settled relationships and their causes. It should be a very exciting adventure!

5 Weeks and Counting...

I'm a mere five weeks from Trip Number One as I think of it in my head. Two big plates to keep spinning -- data collection goals (what stats, what graphs, what figures), and field kit (why is it so hard to find a flexible measuring tape? how many data forms do I really need? how am I going to pack net and collapsible trap?).

I'm headed to Palo Verde National Park in Costa Rica -- not exactly the boonies but no car and can't rely on the gift shop to have missing pieces of gear. Trip Number Two will be easier.

Meerkat predator-scanning behavior is altruistic, research suggests

Meerkat predator-scanning behavior is altruistic, research suggests

What are the benefits of living life in a group? Does group living help you evade predators? Does it help you gain the best mates? Do you learn where the best food is located, and the best nesting spots for your eggs? Is it all better than life alone?

These are some of my questions as I start a long-term research project on iguana social behavior. I'll  follow distinct groups of the spiny-tailed iguana, Ctenosaura similis, analyzing the fitness benefits of living in groups. Perhaps iguanas in larger groups gain an advantage over individuals livings in smaller groups or solitary iguanas. Of course, time, data, and analysis will reveal why hanging near each other is useful for this lizard.

The name of this chronicle is taken from the above meme -- let's face it, getting the right mate is just one hurdle each iguana faces. Perhaps all it does take is a piece of toast!

I'll also share the joys of field work -- it's preparations, aggravations, triumphs, and defeats -- and the work and sheer enlightenment from analysis of data collected during research trips.