Plight of the Iguanas: Hidden die-off followed Galápagos spill
By Susan Milius
The 3-million-liter oil spill in the Galpagos Islands last year may not have been as mild as touted at the time. A research team now blames the spill for a 62 percent loss in one island’s famed marine iguanas.
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The iguanas on Santa Fe Island didn’t keel over in huge numbers immediately after the spill, says Martin Wikelski of Princeton University. However, when his research team returned about a year later, the iguana population had shrunk dramatically and skeletons littered the shores.