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.
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.