The King and I Part 1

Carl and I last June 2011

Carl was #2 and spent his entire day here on the dock,.. for years.

His coloration was always a drab olive/army green with a little brown/orange color in his fore-arms, base of tail, and Dewlap.

Note the Operculate scale, (large false eye scale) that makes up his lower jaw/jowl. 

It should be smooth, spherical, convex and featureless, here you can see Carl's is scared, and wrinkled from the exit wound of the arrow.

....but it has healed nicely!

(note headder photo with fresh arrow hole)  

 Alpha Carl Fall 2011

Alpha Carl Summer 2012 

(yesterday 6.9.2012)

Carl has muted back down to his "casual" colors, I believe, simply  because mating season is over and he is just so much larger than all of the other iguanas.

At this point, there is really no reason to go around wearing war-paint,....everyone knows the deal.

...as for the rest of the slaughter,.... seems to grow each day, and this morning,... was the first time I have ever hand fed a hatch-ling, (a this year/this spring hatchling) there are two that seem to have been born with little-to-no fear of me.

 "Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer it gets to the end,...the faster it goes"

-old West Indian Proverb

Go out there and do something fun today my friend,...it's Sunday.

Dock activity

It is just so different since Steve's departure,...the whole "face" of the slaughter has changed,..I recognize less than half the lizards on the dock at any given time.

Carl (#1),  Ned (#2), Blue,  Scott, Stubby, and Scott's almost identical twin; "Small-Spine" are the only regulars I know,....Carl and Ned being the only larger Iguanas, over three years old.

Scott; and Blue were just a hatch-lings in 2010,..and "yearlings" last season, (2011),... both seem to have grown and made there way into the ranks this year,..I want to say the two are non-violently vying for the new #3 slot,...(Steve's position for years).

Scott 

Blue

There are many new members of the dock clan, that I wouldn't/couldn't really refer to as even a fringe lizard that moved in slowly,..these guys just arrived out of nowhere and became regulars over-night.

Most are "yearlings",...but the most amazing part is that most of these young Iguanas,  even Blue and Scott, Scott's brother,.. are exhibiting stripe patterns that are smooth, straight and vertical and   become "squiggly"/ irregular in the upper half of the body.

It was the day I noticed this last week that "Dotty" showed up out of nowhere after a long disappearance.

She was Gravid.

it was at this point I had the epiphany/came to the conclusion, that I was surrounded 

 by Steve and Dotty's children.

Almost all have the physical characteristics/markings, irregular vertical stripes from Steve, and small "stipple"-like  dot patterns of  Dotty.

....almost all, there is one new yearling ,...only one,.. that does not fit this description,... at all.

He/she has "Olive" colored skin, no pattern at all above mid-body. 

I must assume this new little regular is Carl's kid.

Left; the single "yearling" bearing  Carl's color+ pattern

I am hoping the absence of Lady is simply due to her borrow-digging and egg-laying procedures/activities,.... however It has been about a month since I have last seen her.

At this point in time,...Carl is not only the King, but as far as my relationship with them goes,..he is the only "hand-feeder" left of the original 3 in the header photo.

recent activity note; Carl is NOT tolerating Ned as #2,...the single day I witnessed them seemingly getting along must have been a fluke.

Carl is actually spending hours at the dock,..it is apparent he is occupying  the  #1, AND #2 positions,...like a full-back covering the goal keeper, or vice-versa.

 My infant/toddler son has been joining me for my observation sessions,... is starting to really notice them,... gets very excited, (starts to laugh and giggle) when we go down to the dock.

My 5.5 month old son Indy, with Carl in background

Carl is done eating for the day and is about to jump in the water and swim to the dock,, (pictured in bkrnd) first,.. will then make his way via branch-to-branch climb/jumping to the top of his Australian pine, (also in the pic) to roost.

his daily journey is just over 100 yards, (a football field), each way.

David and Goliath

So one day last week with coffee in hand I'm down am the dock putting out some Mustard greens, and Romaine for the gang, when I feel as though I'm being watched,..but there are no people or iguanas to be seen.
I went about my business, and as I was hosing off part of the dock, I noticed something large under the floating Jet-dock.

We have many different species of fish that visit the dock, some are regulars and then there are the animals that you only see once in awhile.

There have always been grouper in our canal,.. I have seen plenty of; Black Grouper, Gag Grouper, and small Jew Fish, a.k.a."Goliath Grouper",...but well,...pardon my language on the video,..I was taken back, when I looked under the dock to see a 4'+, (four foot plus) Jew-fish staring up at me.

By the time I wrestled my phone from my  phone from my pocket,..he dropped/descended to the depth filmed, witch is about 9', (nine feet) below the dock.
When I first noticed him, (just moments before I got the camera rolling) he was close to the surface, just a foot below the dock.

I never entertained this thought/scenario until this experience, but I'm sure a grouper of this size, (or even smaller) could, (and most likely would) power-down, (in a split-second) a small iguana as they  swim through the shared water-ways, traveling from point A to point B.

There's nothing,no, nothing, that's higher than me!"

On the far-away island

of Sala-ma-Sal,

Carl the Iguana

was king of the canal.


"If I could sit high,
 how much greater I'd be!
What a king, I'd be ruler
of all I could see!"

 Have been trying to take some better pictures of King Carl in his roost,... not necessarily high quality shots, close-ups, or anything along that nature,.. but a shot to give you an idea of  just how high this animal sleeps,..his branch,...the branch he calls;"bed",  "thrown", and "look-out tower".

I'm not great at estimating distance and height, but I am sure he is at least 45, most likely closer to 50-60 feet above the water when he calls it a night.

I took the below 3 pic zoom-in with my iPhone on a cloudy gray morning last week.

The base of his tree, (an un-indigenous Australian Pine) is at the waters edge, he is cantilevered 10-20 feet out and over the water for a Yertle-the-Turtle  "I rule what I see-king of the pond"  type of  ideology, moreover to position himself  for the ultimate escape,... if necessary.

 Carl's roost

Below is another three-step zoom I shot this morning

 Carl's roost this morning, (5.13.2012)

I can see him after the sun sets until the night hides him completely,  he is almost always in the exact same place and position as the sun rises the next morning.

Carl is basically the Iguana Counterpart of Yertle-the-Turtle,  with half the greed and none of the slavery.

lol

The girls

I changed the header-photo/pic of this blog today, to one of Carl, (with the arrow hole through his head), Steve, and Lady,...and as I was choosing the photo realized/asked myself ; Lady!??,..where the F has Lady been?,...or Dotty,..I haven't seen her either?

Lady and Dotty are/were the two top females in the slaughter, ....constant companions of Carl and Steve, the female counter-parts of 1+2.

They both visited and would spend most of their day on the dock for the past three years, (Lady about 5)...however I have not seen either since Steve was killed?

Lady is funny and sometimes doesn't spend all day, (I could be missing her)...but Dotty usually shows up around 10:00AM and doesn't leave until about 7:00PM,...I am more concerned about this one.

Carl and Lady sharing lunch Halloween 2011

(Just 3.5 months after Carl was shot through the head)

I will be keeping an eye out for my two girls.

The new number 2

....Life goes on down on the dock, (and has been) while I've been mourning my little buddy Steve.

This left an important, desirable  position open,....#2

As I had predicted "Nedrick", aka; "Ned", aka; "Nervous Ned", aka; "Rick", aka; "Slick-Rick", moved right into the position he had been satelliting for over a year,...second in command, the "Dock-keeper" when #1 is busy mating, and/or defending the kingdom.

Ned; The new #2

For now I have decided on just "Ned", and/or "The new #2".

Ned was a sketchy, nervous, jumpy, little outsider, or "fringe" iguana, with very long, (almost freakishly long) spines, he showed up one day in the spring of 2010.

His spines were so long that they fell to one side like the hair of a horse's mane.

Long spines are one of the physical characteristics associated with males, along with a few other physical attributes, I have been wrong before,... i.e. short-spined males and long-spined females, do occur, however in this case,..there is no doubt as to the sex of this new wing-man.  

I have to go on record right here, and be honest that,...(and I know this sounds odd, and extremely  anthropomorphic,....but),...I have never really liked Ned that much.

..I don't know if it's just that I have always seen the iguanas I was familiar with chase him away,... I suspect it is the fact  that he would constantly challenge Steve,...he bullied my buddy.

Carl has been visiting the dock every day since Steve's demise,

......again I hate to admit this, but I would find some sort of gratitude or joy every time Carl would storm the dock displaying and/or chasing Ned,...Ned would flee to the next property as he always did in the face of a  larger iguana or human.

That was until the night before last,...I made a conscious decision to like Ned,..to include him in my family, to love him like I do all the rest,..to even go so far as to celebrate his existence,... after all he was just doing what any being would do,..trying to put itself /himself into a position that makes life  ...easier, more comfortable.

...we would all do the same.

So here is the bizarre part, ..... at one point yesterday, (only hours after I made my mental "turnaround") I went down, and couldn't believe what i was seeing,...I ran back up to the house to get my camera.

King Carl  (left), and the new #2, Ned (right) 

It appeared there was a synchronized universal, multi-species acceptance for Ned, and his place here on the dock.

 Carl and Ned were together?!,....Carl showing no sings of aggression at all, just some passive territory marking, i.e.,...Carl is "relieving himself "  in this photo,..he does so, (on the dock) everyday as a constant reminder to the others who is #1.

Welcome Ned, and congratulations,... you worked hard for this,...you deserve it.

Handsome Steve

I don't mean to dwell on loss, but I feel Steve deserves this,...he was one of the entities that made my life what it is, a being that I would lounge around and relax with out on the dock, in what felt/feels (to me) like harmony,..harmony with beautiful exotic, extraordinary creatures, harmony with nature, with the world.


Steve was always there,...on cold days when none of the other iguanas would show-up,..Steve would,..on rainy days,....no one else would show,..but guess who would be there?


.....he was just always there.



When I was young I had the privilege to go, (with my parents) to St.Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. While being checked into the small individual "bungalow" I was taken-back, amazed, and immediately enamored with the three or four large lizards scampering up and over the domed cement roof  of the cottage.
I couldn't get over the beauty of the animals, the surroundings, and the nonchalant relationship between the West-Indian Gentleman showing us to our rooms and these large lizards.
 When I asked the man what they were he casually said "Oh day jus Iguana mon,...they no bodder wit no one"
 I returned to my temperate New Jersey fantasizing and swearing that someday I would  move-to, and live in a tropical place where Iguanas roamed free, and were just everywhere.

I did, and Steve is/was an integral part of that life, my life, mine and my wife's world.


The last three days of his life were spent curled up under a Papasan chair ottoman.

Steve about 24 hours before the last time I would ever see him.

Carl and Steve; the last time I ever saw them together, in the background, (in the water) is neighbor "Miles" telling me that Armondo, (behind him on the opposite dock with no shirt) had to "whack  a big orange one with a shovel because it was about to attack his dog".


Meanwhile, the "big orange one",..is the small dark lizard behind/next to Carl in this photo????
A lizard that is/was 12 inches from head-to-vent, (base of the tail),..and 24 inches of tail, (3 feet total),...but again,...only a 12 inch body.

I don't fault Miles for the way he told me, and as a matter of fact, his wife Pam, (also in the picture, in the water talking with Armondo) is a big fan of Carl's , (she calls him "Redman").

....but while Miles was telling me this story, about this big orange lizard, (that was today,..in fact a small dark green lizard that never asked to be born here), dying slowly in front of me.

The way Miles told me this story made me realize that he, (and most likely then majority of other humans) think that these animals come and go,... that they are all just on the move, like rouge nomads ravaging the landscape at will.
Nothing could be farther from the truth,.. these little guys stay in one area, are creatures of habit,..they will go to the bathroom at the same place everyday at the same time,... we have had the same core group of  about 12 individuals, at our end of the canal,...(my little piece of paradise),...for years.

I'm also quite positive if I were to try and point out to Miles, or even  to Armondo, (who actually hit Steve), that this was the same lizard,..they would say something like;   " oh no this guy was big and orange,..that is not the same one", not being aware of the fact that these animal change color, and shape in seconds through the use of  chromatophores, body compression, leg extension, and the raising and lowering their spines, (yes they have control over their spines).  

I have now witnessed 3 iguana deaths, one via a large Broad-Wing Hawk snatching a hatching, and now,..two via human.
.

The two pictures above are the last time I ever saw him, I offered him Hibiscus flowers, (his favorite) and Romaine,...he ate one Hibiscus blossom from me by hand,...I went down about a half an hour later,...and he was gone.

This didn't have to happen.

We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth. 

-Henry Beston

 A young Carl and Steve, (two years ago, spring 2010)

Steve is on the left

I am going to miss you buddy

Steve is gone

Steve visited the dock for the next two days,...then disappeared.

Two days after his disappearance it became crystal-clear what his job had been,...that he indeed was the "Door-Man"
The dock has been packed with all kinds of crazy Iguanas I have never seen before, large and small.


 I have lost a friend, this little being with whom I fed and interacted with for years,...he would crawl right up on your lap and allow you to pet him even after he had eaten, i.e. it wasn't just food-motivation.


To be killed in such a way, by a neighbor,..a neighbor  I actually like,...is really though for me.
I can't say anything,....for I would look crazy, the majority of people want them gone, they view me as some crazy old cat-women/man who feeds un-indigenous garden-eating rats.

Steve was the only iguana to ever come up to the house, go up the stairs, and,... with three barking dogs inside, (their natural enemy) scratch on the sliding glass door to be fed.

I am truly already missing this animal.

Rest In Peace  little buddy

I have taken an unintentional break from this Blog, first, simply for the lack of time, second, I resigned  my self to a single entry a week.
It's been a few weeks since I last posted; everything seemed cool, old familiars began showing up, a bunch of new hatchlings, Carl showing up daily and taking the picnic bench,..which got me thinking were the hell is Steve?


Steve showed-up at the dock, after a two week hiatus this Tuesday morning , he was there before the sun rose, (no iguana ever shows up before 9:00AM).

Something was terribly wrong and I could see from my deck, and when I approached it was clear he had been attacked,... by either a dog or a human and his pelvis seemed to be broken, almost paralyzed in each back leg, his colors were dark and muted.

Carl came later in the morning and sat beside his childhood buddy all day.
Any aggression I had predicted between the two never materialized, and it seems their "friendship" will be to till the end.

Steve showed up this morning , (just around sunrise),..my friend Phil and his family came to visit, it seemed some how fitting that a friend of mine that actually reads this blog would be able to come down to the Keys, and sort-of pay  his respects, Phil seemed optimistic, sighting the Carl incident, and how fatal I believed that may be at the time,...but I knew down inside that this is different.
  Steve just remained curled up in the base of the Papasan chair for most of the day and has just begun to move around I feel today may be one of the last days I get to hang out with my little buddy.

.......just found out from a neighbor that another neighbor, (diagonally across the canal) had hit one with a shovel a few days ago because it was "threatening" his little lap-dog.
It  is highly unlikely that Steve was threatening his dog at all, ..if anything simply holding his ground.
It is highly likely though, that Armondo smashed him with a shovel after seeing what he believed to be his little dog in trouble, however, it is mainly my fault for creating a situation where Steve felt comfortable enough around humans that his natural "fight or flight" responses/reactions where "dulled".

I have debated catching him and taking him to the vet, but quickly dismissed the idea as poor, knowing that most animals, especially reptiles and fish will stress out to the point of simply "shutting-down" if removed from their habitat, (especially while combating the stress of  a preexisting physical ailment)
I figure his last days should be unmolested and peaceful here on the dock where he has lived for the past 5 years.

What the hell is that Dad?

 Sunday, March 25th

Sunday was a big day,... two of my favorite entities met for the first time.

...my 4 month old Son Indy met Carl.

Indy and Carl

Here is a strange picture,...this is Carl with Sebastian, the French Kid who shot the arrow through his head.

(in the inflatable boat behind him)

Carl crouched down, actually "ducked" and drew closer to Indy, my wife and I when he drove by.

Carl with the French Assassin 

Carl has been "wearing"/exhibiting his old muted coloration, has a nice battle wound on the base of his tail, 

AND took his number two thrown yesterday?

...I wonder more and more, if he has lost /been beaten-down by some new Alpha Male.

Two factors cancel that conclusion, A; he only stays on the dock for a limited amount of time, the returns to the highest perch.

B; I have been scanning  the tree tops with binoculars night and day and have only seen Carl occupying   the highest roost, (Wilsons's old branch) with his royal subjects scattered at varying heights below him.
There are two larger Iguanas that I have seen for about a year, (still always below Wilson, and now Carl) I have never seen them come to the dock.
One of these could be challenging Carl with the "realization" (for lack of a better word), that Big Wilson is no longer around.
Carl is large, but not nearly the size of Wilson, (R.I.P.)

Carl sitting at his old desk

CARL

CARL;

This video is taken last June, (2011) just weeks before neighboring French teenagers would kill Wilson, (the reigning Alpha Male for years), and put an arrow straight through Carl's head.
 With a little TLC and human protection, i.e. triple antibiotic on his wounds daily, cutting up food into very small pieces so it could travel through his severely damaged, (pierced) throat, and threatening the French

......Carl survived and healed,  taking Wilson's place, (and coloration) as Alpha Male among the Slaughter.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QThxg1ZlO60

Carl just days after the teens shot an arrow through his head, the entrance wound is the dark spot just below the corner of his mouth.

The exit wound is straight through the Subtympanic Scale, on the other side, (the large false-eye scale, shown on this side intact just below and to the left of the entrance wound).

....I have no idea why the font became small and different either,.. I'm writing it, but apparently not in control.

Have a great day everyone- Iguana Dave

Thursday and Friday

Thursday, March 22nd 2012;
Great day, warm,...(temperature directly affects/effects the Iguana's metabolic rates,  thus,...activity).

The dock was packed, members would come and go all day, I could tell in the early morning that Carl was going to come over this day,..it was just too hot.

....and he did,..about an hour later,..cleared the dock,..all but Dotty fled the minuet he climbed out off the water.

Carl was "wearing" neutral colors,..his old coloration, anthropomorphically,..I would interpret this as him being "relaxed", OR he has been challenged and lost to a larger male, he does have a cut on the left side of his upper-tail, (that would be indicative of a fight)..but as I scanned his roost I saw no other, (large) iguanas,...AND as soon as he returned to his roost, his  Chromatophores lit up the bright orange and turquoise Alpha colors.
I would guesstimate that he was in a physical altercation,..and won.

The best part about Thursday was when Carl ate lettuce until he was full,..then walked past the food,..right up to me, (I was sitting "Indian-style" on the dock),..closed his eyes, as if to solicit/initiate some sort of communication, and/or physical contact.

I began petting him on the head,.. he just stood there with his eyes closed,...as he has done many times in the past,...again anthropomorphically,...I would say he seems to "like" this.

I know I shouldn't "play favorites",..but Carl is like no other Iguana I have ever met/observed/interacted-with.

If there is a lizard that actually enjoys the company of people, beyond food motivation,..your looking at him.

Friday,March 23rd;

Unfortunately I had to work away from home/the dock all day Friday, so I have absolutely no Intel.

I will be on the dock all weekend,  looks as though it's gonna be a hot one,...should be some action.

March 21st

Wednesday March 21st 2012;

Yesterday was a strange day,
I had to run into the "Adult Disney-Land for alcoholics " that is Key West Florida to pick up some supplies.

The thoughts and mind-set of collage days so far in my wake,...I Completely forget about Spring-Break.

I returned from a 4-hour trip that would normally have taken about an hour, after greeting my three girls, (Yellow Labs), human wife and son,..I headed to the dock.

 From my house I could see Dotty, Steve, and an adolescent near black Iguana with spines oriented "straight -up", (not "bending-back" or curving toward the tail as most other iguanas exhibit). 

Although I had not seen this animal for over 6 months,...I knew exactly who it was,...it was "Scott".

I had been thinking about him recently and wondering if I would ever see him again, Scott left sometime mid-last summer, was  MIA come fall, I feared he had been eaten by a Hawk, or met some other horrible demise.

He is larger, and will most likely exhibit a noticeable growth-spurt this summer

Scott's return 2012

I was happy to see this little lizard.

About an hour later I went back down and again, from a distance could see a larger Iguana I hadn't seen before.

Dotty,Scott, and Blue were there, no sign of Steve,..and this strange new Iguana was dropping it's dewlap, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewlap) and head-bobbing at Dotty and Blue.

This Is a strangely patterned animal, almost looks related to Carl, however I believe this to be a larger, female.
If she decides to stick around...could mean trouble for a few of the smaller iguanas.

Blue is in the foreground and the new stranger, (fringe Iguana) in back with dewlap extended,..she was "bobbing" at Blue, then charged him/her, (I am not sure of  Blue's sex).

In all of my years observing these lizards, I can tell you one thing,... there is nothing more aggressive as a large female, males will put on elaborate displays changing color, puffing-up and bobbing their heads, etc,..but will rarely, attack and bite like a female.
The girls give a quick warning and then charge with intent to do harm.

It will be interesting to see if she comes back to the dock today.

Monday and Tuesday

18th+19th

Monday; quiet,... Steve only all day.

Tuesday; (yesterday) Steve, Dotty, and one of last yeas's hatch-lings I don't/didn't recognize,...very skittish.

Based on markings and size, I suspect he is a relative/nest-mate of the one we call "Todd".

Lazy Sunday

Steve was here most of the morning,...but was gone around 1:00PM.

There hasn't been a  single Iguana since, witch is unusual,... I attribute this to the "Snow-Bird",(Snow-Birds; part time/winter residence,..usually old, rich, crotch-ity white people) commotion being created across the canal, George from N.J. has been tuning-up and revving his two large, (2-stroke) outboards out of the water with a hose to the H2O intake all afternoon.

It's load, I don't even want to be out there right now.

When the Snow-Birds leave, (around May)...the canal is ours,...til somewhere around Thanksgiving.

We are praying the French house will be sold to Snow-Birds,...however, ANYTHING, any situation, any family will be better than these horrible, arrogant, disgusting French people.
They/their house were the only other full-time residence.

This is a shot under the dock last evening, these are "Giant Mithrax Crab"s, also known as "Channel Clinging Crabs", "Reef Spider Crabs", "King-Crab",and "Coral Crab".

They are in just about every Marine Ecosystem down here, from my relatively stagnant high-nutrient back yard canal, to the reef itself, and beyond to deeper areas.

They are LARGE, the carapace itself can measure 7-8 inches side-to-side.

MARCH 16th+17th

Friday was a big day at the Dock;

Steve, Dotty, Blue, Todd, and "Stubby", (one of last year's fringe hatch-lings that had lost his tail) were hanging out together and in shifts.

"Stubby" returned Friday as a small adolescent iguana with a good portion of his tail grown-back. 

Steve never left, and Carl never showed,...at least from what I saw, however I was working and could only observe periodically.

SATURDAY MARCH 17TH;

Again I had to work and was only down on the dock every couple hours to see what was going on.

Steve, Dotty and some "mystery hatchling" I had never seen before were the only iguanas around.

This mystery-hatchling has a recognizable physical abnormality,... appears to have a big lump or bump on his back as if he had broken it, (his/her back) and it has healed ,..or something like that,...he/she ran away fast each time I approached,....it doesn't appear to be effecting his mobility.

I will refer to this hatch-ling as "Lumpy",..and will try to get a pic as soon as I can catch him, (with the camera).

Steve has been hanging out from sunrise-to-sunset everyday since he arrived except for a small period of time last week when Carl arrived.

As I had predicted,..he has claimed Carl's old, "second-in-command" thrown as his own