Glandular head

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Glandular head
Druze Head on Seymour Norte

Druze Head on Seymour Norte

Systematics
Order : Scale reptiles (Squamata)
without rank: Toxicofera
without rank: Iguana (Iguania)
Family : Iguanas (Iguanidae)
Genre : Glandular heads ( Conolophus )
Type : Glandular head
Scientific name
Conolophus subcristatus
( Gray , 1831)
Glandular head

The Drusenkopf ( Conolophus subcristatus ), also known as the Galapagos land iguana , is a species from the genus of the Drusenkopf . The animals only live on the Galápagos Islands Isabela , Fernandina and Santa Cruz , as well as their subsidiary islands Baltra , Seymour Norte and Plaza Sur . They were exterminated on Santiago , where Charles Darwin found them en masse at the time. - The Santa Fe Drusenkopf ( Conolophus pallidus ) lives on the Galapagos island of Santa Fe .

features

Druse heads are large, heavily built lizards with strong legs and strong clawed feet. They are 1.20 meters long and are yellow or brown in color. The head is short and ends blunt. A spiky comb runs down the neck and back. The tail is slightly longer than the head and trunk together.

Way of life

Druze heads inhabit self-dug burrows in the ground, in which they are protected from the strong sunlight. They are herbivores and feed on z. B. of sprouts and flowers of opuntia . They remove the spines by rolling the parts of the plant with their foot on the ground. They partially cover their water needs by consuming the cacti.

Reproduction

Males defend territories around their burrows, which are used as shelter by both them and females. The females lay their clutch of up to 25 eggs with a soft, leather-like shell in damp sand or under leaves. On the dry and rocky island of Fernandina, the females walk up to 15 kilometers to find good nesting sites, sometimes within an extinct volcanic crater. The young hatch after three to four months.

source

Web links

Commons : Conolophus subcristatus  - album with pictures, videos and audio files