Spent 10 days on Guana Island, BVI catching C pinguis. The pic is the biggest one I caught, about 21" svl and just over 15lbs. His name is "Chuipah" which is porkchop in chinese. I spent 4 days trying to catch him. He is fed by the staff and habituated to people but very wary. I had a noose around his head 2x and he shook it off. I had to bait a net that lay on the ground and have one of the gardeners that feed him pull up the net and I dove on him because he wouldnt come close to a stranger. He has many scars, all the males did. I have never in all the cyclura I have caught had to tape a mouth closed. This guys neck, due to the crest, was so thick I couldnt get my hands around his neck to safely control the head. This animal has a great history. He was sent to Necker Is. Branson's island, as one of 4 pinguis to colonize the island. He was a staff favorite and the owners wife demanded Chuipah come back. So one of the staff retrieved and replaced the ig and brought Chuipah home that was 2003 and he was thought to be a female. When we caught "her" and we found out it was PIT tagged we got the history on the lizard and it was obviously a male and his whereabouts unkown till caught. In 2wks our team caught 86 iguanas. The population is healthy and thriving. Incredible animals

jf

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