Galápagos Land Iguana

(Conolophus subcristatus), also brown and gold land iguana, a lizard of the family Iguanidae. Measuring up to 1 m long, it has a short crest of enlarged scales along the spine. It is found only on the Galápagos Islands. The lizard digs deep burrows and feeds on vegetation, primarily cacti. During his voyage on the Beagle, C. Darwin observed large number of Galapagos land iguanas on James Island. Today their numbers have sharply decreased, and there are small numbers of them only on some of the islands.