The grapes that hundreds of tourists feed to iguanas on the paradisiacal islands of the Bahamas cause their blood sugar levels to rise, with consequences still unknown for these endangered species, according to a study published on Friday (22).
Dozens of speedboats dock every day on the white sand beaches of the islets of the Exumas archipelago, attracting the Cyclura cychlura iguanas, a herbivorous species that can reach up to 50 centimeters in height.
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The large lizards, which come on one of these “ecotourism” tours where they are fed bunches of grapes, are classified, according to their subspecies, between “vulnerable and endangered”.
A team of American researchers studied the effect of this food on the metabolism of animals.
For this, they compared the blood glucose level of iguanas with that of animals of the same species, but that live on islets whose topography prevents ecotourism.
Results of their work on four populations of iguanas (two grape-fed and two naturally-fed) published in the Journal of Experimental Biology show that “significant effects” are seen in tourist-fed iguanas, which have a very high blood glucose level. higher.
To make sure they were feeding on the grapes that cause this hyperglycemia, the researchers replicated the experiment in a laboratory with common green iguanas, an unprotected species, and got the same results.
The researchers acknowledge that they themselves don’t know whether this shift in metabolism is bad for the lizards’ health.
But “we could call it diabetes if they were humans or mice,” Susannah French, the study’s lead author, told AFP.
In addition, researchers are already noticing physiological effects, for example, in “cigar-shaped” faeces, when iguanas have their natural diet of plants, but much more liquid with the contribution of fruit.
A previous study had already shown that the iguanas that live on the beaches where they are fed are bigger, heavier and grow faster than their conspecifics not exposed to tourists.
The researchers, who insist their study is not a condemnation of tourism, want to cooperate with tour operators to “find a more sustainable plan,” says another study author, Charles Knapp.
Between the tracks, regulate the number of visitors or “the use of another type of food”.
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