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Common Name: Common Green Iguana
Scientific Name: Iguana iguana
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata Suborder: Sauria Family: Iguanidae
Ok lets start off with Kingdom and what this means: all god creatures start off at the top. This is the kingdom level that
goes for mammals and reptiles, plants anything living. After going down the kingdom level the green iguanas are file
under that animal category just like mammals.
Phylum
How as we go down the list of classifications the phylum level is still a wide spread classification but it does narrow the
class some what like taking out plants and worms and the animals that do not have a backbone or a central nervous
system. This is what you would call Chordata.
Class
Now the Green Iguana first appears here under reptilia commonly know as reptile. These creatures are cold blooded with
lungs and scaly skin. Which hatch on land and share the same skeletal similarities as turtles, crocodiles and snakes and
other lizards.
Order
This classification separates reptiles into an order, which snakes and other lizard are included. Turtles and crocodilians
are dropped these members of the order are called squamata or in other words scaly ones. This makes up about 95% of
the reptiles.
Suborder
In this classification known as sauria all other reptiles like snakes drop out. The only thing that is left is lizards that were
iguanas come in. So now the classifications are being narrowed down to just lizards.
Family
This classification is known as iguanidae. This is where the word iguana comes in. Now there are 8 separate genus types
each looking a little different then the other. But we call them Iguanas.
The Green Iguanas are found mostly in southern Mexico and South America and Central America and parts of the
Paraguay. In the Lesser Antilles islands some small numbers of common green iguanas can be found. Now hey are also
seen in the states here in Florida California, and Hawaii islands. How they got there is only one way, is that people have
released them there or they have escaped from the captures. They have thrived in these states and even bred. But they
are hurting the ecosystem of the native species of the state.
Now green iguana like the lower altitudes like around 3000 feet or lower in the higher altitude it is to cold for them to live.
Now these iguana are arboreal they do like the treetops and live in trees. There body is suited for the purpose with four
strong limbs and Sharpe claws for climbing and a very strong tail. Now they will come done from the treetops for a couple
of different reasons one is to eat the other is to mate and third to move to a better tree if they want. Now these iguanas
are mostly diurnal which means they are more likely to be active during the day and sleep at night. Iguana also need a
photoperiod in captivity and in the wild which means 12 hours of day time activities and 12 hours of rest and sleep.
In the wild they wake up as the sun rises and then they move to a nice sunny spot to bask for a little bet tell they are warm
enough and then feed for a time and then bask some more and feed some more. Now they are completely herbivores but
when times are hard and food is not as plentiful, it is not uncommon to see them take a bug especially when they are
young. Now as young they have many predators that love to eat them. That’s why when you get your green iguana that is
young it is really skittish of you. But as they glow and become bigger there predators seem to lower because of the strong
tails and sharp teeth. There is one predator that the adult iguana seems to have and that is humans, yes us! We take the
land and hiding place and use it for are own purposes and yes we hunt them and eat them for food. This is a fact in many
South American countries.
Well I hope I gave you some kind of history of this guys and I hope you enjoyed the reading.