This is good news for local wildlife.

An iguana that disappeared more than a century ago from the island of Santiago, in the Galapagos archipelago, is reproducing naturally after its reintroduction, the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment announced on Monday.

The disappearance of the reptile species

Conolophus subcristatus

, one of three land iguanas living on the archipelago, had been noted by an expedition of the California Academy of Sciences from 1903 to 1906.

#Galapagos |

Casi dos después siglos can be seen to reproduce the land iguanas in Santiago.

El último registro de una población saludable lo hizo #CharlesDarwin in 1835. Lea más en https://t.co/dEM5WEcTkE pic.twitter.com/ozWatwJcvL

— Parque Galapagos (@parquegalapagos) August 1, 2022

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Over 3,000 iguanas reintroduced

In 2019, the Galapagos National Park (PNG) authority reintroduced more than 3,000 iguanas from a nearby island to restore the natural ecosystem of Santiago, which sits in the center of the Pacific archipelago.

This chain of isolated islands was made famous by the observations of the British geologist and naturalist Charles Darwin who, in 1835, recorded a considerable number of iguanas of all ages on Santiago.

For PNG director Danny Rueda, “187 years later, we are once again seeing a healthy population of land iguanas with adults, juveniles and hatchlings.

This is a great conservation achievement and bolsters our hopes for reintroduction.”

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