- African pancake tortoise
- Amethystine python
- Black marsh turtle
- Blue-tongued skink
- Colombian rainbow boa
- Cuban boa
- Egyptian tortoise
- Geoffroy's side-necked turtle
- Giant tortoise
- Gila monster
- Golden Mantella frog
- Green tree python
- Inland bearded dragon
- Madagascan tree boa
- Marbled milk frog
- Philippine sail-fin water dragon
- Plumed basilisk
- Poison arrow frog
- Prehensile-tailed skink
- Red-eared terrapin
- Rhinoceros iguana
- Standing's day gecko
- Thai tree frog
- Veiled chameleon
- West African dwarf crocodile
- Western chuckwalla
- White-lipped python
- Yellow-spotted Amazon River turtle
- Yellow-headed day's gecko
Rhinoceros iguana
Scientific name: Cyclura cornuta
Country: Dominican Republic, Haiti
Continent: North America
Diet: Fruits- frugivore, leaves- folivore, flowers
Food & feeding: Herbivore
Habitats: Tropical dry forest
Conservation status: Vulnerable
Relatives: Galapagos marine iguana
Description: This powerful lizard's body is quite stout and is crested with a row of spines along the back. It has strong legs that enable it to walk with its body well elevated from the ground. They are usually a dull grey-brown colour. A fully grown male is quite an impressive animal - the can be 56 cm in length and weigh 10 kg.
Lifestyle: These large lizards are entirely vegetarian. They spend their days eating and basking in the sun and retreat at night into burrows, hollow trunks or caves. Males defend territories and keep watch from favourite sunbathing spots on top of large rocks or in tall trees.
Family & friends: Males are territorial and hostile towards other males.
Keeping in touch: Vigorous head-bobbing is an important signal in iguana society. High territorial vantage points mean that a head-bob signal can be seen by all iguanas in the area.
Growing up: Rhinoceros iguanas mate in the spring just before the rainy season. Females excavate a tunnel about one metre in length in which they lay up to 34 eggs. The young iguanas hatch up to six months later. The young are miniatures of their parents and are completely independent but more arboreal (tree-dwelling) at this age. They reach maturity in about three years and have a life expectancy of 30 years.
The rhinoceros iguana is named from the three horny lumps on the top of its snout, which are much less conspicuous in the female than in the male.
Conservation news: This species was common in the wild up to the early 1950s. 35% of their original habitat has now been lost. Clearing of forests for firewood is a major problem and introduced cats, dogs and pigs take a heavy toll on adults and eggs. This species is now protected and public education programmes hope to secure its future.
Our original pair of rhinoceros iguanas came to Bristol Zoo Gardens in 1986 and they are in a new enlarged area in the Reptile House. The Zoo also houses two younger rhino iguanas that arrived from Prague Zoo in 2000.
