Grand Cayman blue iguana

Nobody knows

Cyclura lewisi

Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman (Salina Reserve, Colliers Wilderness Reserve)

Not counted as a whole as of 12 November 2026; the release-area estimates are reported by the National Trust for the Cayman Islands with the RSPB.

Grand Cayman blue iguana, captive — Photo: Reveriesun, CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), via Wikimedia Commons; cropped by Live SpeciesLicence: CC BY 4.0In the photo: captive

No figure covers the whole population of the Grand Cayman blue iguana as of 12 November 2026: the National Trust for the Cayman Islands with the RSPB reports estimates only for the release areas of the Salina Reserve and the Colliers Wilderness Reserve.

Monitoring points to too few young joining naturally, so the rebuilt population is not likely to keep itself going.

How it was counted

The estimates are of animals (not nests or area) and were made only in the release areas of the Salina Reserve and the Colliers Wilderness Reserve on Grand Cayman. The report from the National Trust for the Cayman Islands with the RSPB does not give a figure for the population as a whole.

No figure covers the whole population: numbers have been estimated only in the release areas of the Salina Reserve and the Colliers Wilderness Reserve.

What moves it

The National Trust for the Cayman Islands with the RSPB reports that monitoring points strongly to too few young joining the wild iguanas naturally, so the rebuilt population is not likely to keep itself going over the long term.

a lack of natural recruitment, which population monitoring strongly indicates, so the restored wild population is unlikely to sustain itself over the long term. Source: National Trust for the Cayman Islands with RSPB, Darwin Plus project DPLUS163 annual report 2023-24.