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Identificación: 26988Creado: 2003-03-20 10:14Modificado: 2003-03-24 16:00Refreshed: 2010-02-04 02:58 
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Documento(s) 3 de 3
Impact Cost and availability Potential users Contact Resources Introduction The green iguana (Iguana iguana), indigenous throughout Central America, has been traditionally used as a source of food by Latin American farmers who refer to the tasty reptile as "chicken of the tree" (gallina de palo). Unfortunately, excessive hunting of their eggs and meat and the destruction of their tropical forest habitat has caused a sharp decrease in the iguana population. They are classified as endangered in some countries and are extinct in others. The Fundación Pro Iguana Verde (FPIV) in Costa Rica is implementing a program to conserve green iguanas by successfully breeding and raising them in captivity for reintroduction into natural areas. Iguana farming offers an alternative source of food for local consumption and can increase the income of farmers by secondary production activities using skins and other products, such as fat and eggs for medicinal purposes. The green iguana is the only iguana that lives and feeds on trees. Iguana farming offers an economic alternative to cattle ranching while protecting the natural habitat of the iguana — the tropical forest. Iguana management is designed to be one component of other productive activities in Latin American farming systems. It provides incentives for reforestation, which in turn counteracts erosion, conserves water resources, and enhances soil fertility. The key elements of iguana farming are reproduction in captivity, controlled incubation, and raising hatchlings in captivity. Once the hatchlings are seven months old, they are released into forested areas on farms, where they grow to harvestable size in two additional years. It is estimated that iguanas can yield as much protein per unit area as cattle. Essential components of iguana farming are the restoration and protection of tropical forests for food and habitat. To create the farms, enclosures are constructed using sheet-metal walls sunk 30 cm into the ground. Inside, the animals sleep in shelters made of bamboo and other vegetation. Each shelter has an adjustable entrance slit through which young lizards can slither, but predators, which are usually larger, cannot. Most enclosures are set on stilts and food is served in the shade underneath. With this system, 20 to 60 young iguanas are kept in a 10 square metre area. The iguana farms also include an artificial nest consisting of a "tunnel" leading to a sand-filled, egg-laying chamber. Both tunnel and chamber are made of predator-safe material and are easily accessible by the farmer. Artificial nests increase the number of hatched eggs and their survival rate to 90%, versus 50% in the wild. Using food supplements (iguana chow), it is estimated that the population can be maintained at 6 to 10 times the level possible in a rainforest, or around 50 adult iguanas per hectare. Iguana chow is a mixture of broken rice, meat, bone, and fish meal, papayas, mangos, bananas, avocados, as well as a variety of leaves and flowers. Smallholders can erect simple feeding stations and keep them stocked with table scraps or weedy vegetation. This makes for low-cost production before the iguanas reach harvesting size. The FPIV continues its work at the policy level by studying existing legislation, land use, natural resource management policies, and socioeconomic settings in target areas in Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala. The goal is to establish optimal conditions for sustainable production and marketing of the green iguana to benefit the small farmer. Impact
Cost and availability The main investment is the cost of the enclosures. The cost of raising the iguanas to usable size entirely in captivity is too high to be profitable. Releasing the iguanas at 6-10 months into forests, farmland with scattered trees, or into village backyards considerably reduces costs. The economic feasibility of iguana management will vary according to social and environmental circumstances. FPIV will establish collaborative projects to transfer technology providing that environmentally beneficial conditions are met. A farming manual is available to participants. Potential users Farmers living close to tropical forest areas from Mexico to northern Brazil and Peru, including a number of Caribbean islands. Small patches of remnant forest encountered on farms and buffer zones surrounding protected parks provide adequate habitat. Contact Dr. Dagmar I. Werner, President Fundación Pro Iguana Verde Apartado 692-1007 San Jose, COSTA RICA Tel: (506) 240-6712 Fax: (506) 235-2007 E-mail: iguverde@sol.racsa.co.cr Web site: http://www.cocori.com/library/eco/igprk.htm Resources Microlivestock. 1991. Little-known small animals with a promising economic future. BOSTID and NRC. National Academic Press, Washington, D.C. Chapter 33, 347 - 353. Stoney, C. October 1987.The day of the Iguana. VITA NEWS, p. 38. (Description of the Iguana Management Project in Panama, sponsored by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.) Werner, D.I.; Rey, D.I. El Manejo de la Iguana Verde; Tomo I: Biologia. Fundacion Pro Iguana Verde and Instituto de Investigaciones Tropicales Smithsonian, Panama. 42 pp.
Documento(s) 3 de 3
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