The San Diego Zoo Institute for Research has reached a major milestone: The institute has bred the world’s three most endangered lizards, according to zoo officials.
A Jamaican iguana (pictured above) hatched on August 30, according to a release from the zoo. This is the first time a Jamaican iguana was born at the zoo institute.
According to the release, the species was thought to have gone extinct in the 1940s, until a colony was discovered in 1990. The Jamaican iguana is still critically endangered because of deforestation and predators, such as cats, dogs and pigs.
The research institute has also hatched two other critically endangered lizards: the Grand Cayman iguana and the Anegada iguana.
