Topes Y Cenotes - Tulum, Mexico, Part 7 - Iguana-thon

The other particularly remarkable thing that happened on our third (second full) day in Tulum, was that we really started getting a sense of just how many iguanas there were around here.  During our search for the doctor's office we not only saw our first turtle...

... but we also saw more iguanas than we could have ever imagined.  It was on this day that I finally realized that photographing every single iguana that I saw would probably be ridiculous.

But I did it anyway.

There were large, beach-side iguanas...

And little guys that we almost stepped on!

There were iguanas in the grass...

And iguanas with no fear, sunbathing on the sidewalks. 

There were romantic iguanas...

... and big, mean bully iguanas (they puff out their throats to scare away enemies.) 

Where's the iguana?!?!?

Would you believe that those pictures above are just a tiny sampling of the iguanas that we encountered?  And this was still on the resort!!!  If you were walking around and you heard a rustling sound, all you needed to do was stop and looking around for a second and you would probably spot on iguana.

Here are a few facts about iguanas:

When they're young, they're green, and as they age they start turning that darker gray/brown/black color.  Most iguanas found in Mexico are called Black Iguanas.  In the picture below, you can see a young green iguana who's tail is just starting to turn colors.

Iguana going through puberty

As a means of survival, adult iguanas can completely shed their tail if a predator grabs on to it.  However, the tail will never grow back as long as the original tail.

All of the iguanas that we encountered seemed totally harmless, but apparently if you start feeding them, they will start to become bolder and will try to seek out food.  But otherwise, they pretty much just eat leaves.

I'm going to end this iguana-thon with a picture of the biggest, grand-daddiest of all the iguanas that we encountered the entire week.  He reminded me of a crocodile.

Look at the size of that thing!! And those spikes!!!

Coming Up... 
Tired of looking at pictures of iguanas?  Man, that's too bad.  Because many more iguana pictures are coming up.  Including an absolute gem, my all-time favorite picture of an iguana ever, complete with a story about how I had to haggle to get my camera back from a Mexican man.  And why are we still on the resort? Get OUT already!!!