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.