Galápagos iguanas look like prehistoric animals: Their scaly skin resembles volcanic rock, their backs are ridged with a row of spikes, and they have extremely long, curved claws. They use their tails as a whip to defend themselves, but even that hasn’t been enough to prevent poachers from capturing and trafficking them to North America, Africa, Asia and Europe. These iguanas are prized by collectors, and are worth a small fortune on the black market. “They are sought after because they’re unique species,” said Christian Sevilla, the director of island ecosystem conservation and restoration for Galápagos National Park. Each iguana can sell for tens of thousands of dollars on the black market. Galápagos pink land iguanas can vary greatly in color: some are bright pink, others paler. Image courtesy of Jorge Carrión/Galápagos Conservancy. The legality is convoluted and, at best, questionable, according to new research published in the journal Biological Conservation. Dozens of iguanas have been legally exported from Ecuador, which has jurisdiction over the Galápagos Islands, and moved between countries including Mali, Uganda and Switzerland, under permits issued by CITES, the global wildlife trade convention signed by 185 nations. But Ecuador, the only place in the world where these iguanas live in the wild, has never permitted the export of live specimens, according to Sevilla, a co-author of the study. Neither the park nor Ecuador’s environment ministry granted CITES permits for the international trade of these threatened reptiles. An alleged reptile trafficker from Indonesia posted an “unboxing” video to…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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