{"id":13595,"date":"2025-03-17T19:29:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T19:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/"},"modified":"2025-03-17T19:29:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T19:29:01","slug":"these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up in Fiji, 5,000 Miles From Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For decades, the native iguanas of Fiji and Tonga have presented an evolutionary mystery. Every other living iguana species dwells in the Americas, from the Southwestern United States to the Caribbean and parts of South America. So how could a handful of reptilian transplants have ended up on two islands in the South Pacific, over 4,970 miles away?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe question has definitely captured the imagination of scientists and the public alike,\u201d said Simon G. Scarpetta, an evolutionary biologist at the University of San Francisco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.2318622122\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">research published Monday<\/a> in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Scarpetta and his colleagues make the case that the ancestors of Fiji\u2019s iguanas crossed on mats of floating vegetation. Such a voyage across nearly 5,000 miles of open ocean would be the longest known by a nonhuman vertebrate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rafting \u2014 the term scientists use for hitching a ride across oceans on uprooted trees or tangles of plants \u2014 has long been recognized as a way for small creatures on land to reach islands, said Hamish G. Spencer, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Otago in New Zealand who was not involved in the study. Usually those are invertebrates, whose small size means they can survive a long way in an uprooted tree trunk. While examples from <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/04\/07\/science\/vagrants-lost-birds.html\" title=\"\">nonflying vertebrates<\/a> are relatively rare, he added, lizards and snakes seem to be able to raft farther than mammals, perhaps because their slower metabolism allows them to fast for a long time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Iguana species have proved adept at making shorter crossings. In 1995, Dr. Scarpetta said, scientists observed at least <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/26886\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">15 green iguanas rafting<\/a> nearly 200 miles on hurricane debris from one Caribbean island to another. And researchers have long agreed that the ancestors of the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2018\/12\/18\/climate\/galapagos-islands-ocean-warming.html\" title=\"\">iguanas of the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands<\/a> made the nearly 600-mile trip from South America on bobbing vegetation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A crossing to Fiji, however, represents an almost unimaginable challenge. While some researchers suggested that the Fiji iguana\u2019s ancestors had rafted there as well, Dr. Spencer said, others pointed to the vast distances as a reason for skepticism. They countered that the iguanas were the remnant of an extinct group, one that had possibly crossed over land from the Americas to Asia or Australia, and then made the relatively easier crossing to Fiji and Tonga.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Scarpetta\u2019s team tackled the question by trying to work out when Fijian iguana species \u2014 which belong to a distinct genus, Brachylophus \u2014 split off from their closest relatives. After the team sampled the genetics from 14 living iguana species belonging to eight genuses, its analysis suggested that the Fijian species\u2019 closest living relatives were the genus <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inaturalist.org\/taxa\/35356-Dipsosaurus-dorsalis\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Dipsosaurus<\/a>, a group of desert iguanas found in the American Southwest and northwestern Mexico.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cCompared to other iguanas, both are relatively slender in body shape,\u201d Dr. Scarpetta said, \u201cand they have some skeletal similarities as well, such as the morphology of their teeth.\u201d The team\u2019s analysis suggested that the two genuses split around 30 million and 34 million years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That timing is important for a number of reasons, Dr. Scarpetta said: First, it\u2019s around the time volcanoes birthed the Fijian archipelago. Second, the cold and ice around the poles at that time would have made it impossible for any lineage of temperature-sensitive iguanas to make it to Asia or Australia from the Americas, and then hop to the Pacific islands. There is also no iguana fossil evidence anywhere in the Eastern Hemisphere other than Fiji or Tonga.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNorth America is the most probable area of origin for iguanas in Fiji, and overwater rafting is the best supported mechanism,\u201d Dr. Scarpetta said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The team also argues that the ancestral desert iguanas \u2014 tolerant of heat and harsh conditions \u2014 would have been well suited for the trip. A three- to four-month crossing would have been roughly the length of Dipsosaurus\u2019s winter hibernation, meaning the lizards could have made the voyage without starving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And if the herbivorous reptiles rafted on a mat of vegetation, Dr. Scarpetta added, \u201cthe voyaging iguanas may even have had food on the journey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Spencer said, \u201cIn the past, such long-distance dispersal events appeared to be untestable stories, limited only by one\u2019s imagination.\u201d But while the suggestion might seem extraordinary, he said, the team makes a very convincing case. After all, the other possible origins for the Fijan iguanas would require events that might have been as unlikely or even more so, such as the extinction and utter disappearance of other iguanas along the alternative routes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The study adds to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/12\/science\/sweet-potato-pacific-dna.html\" title=\"\">a growing body of research<\/a>, Dr. Spencer added, suggesting that \u201clong-distance dispersal is far more important in the evolutionary history of many animal groups than had previously been appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/17\/science\/iguanas-fiji-rafting.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For decades, the native iguanas of Fiji and Tonga have presented an evolutionary mystery. Every other living iguana species dwells<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[2548,2365,1757,4344,880,2318,779,268,2549,188],"class_list":["post-13595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-far-east","tag-fiji","tag-genetics-and-heredity","tag-iguanas","tag-north-america","tag-oceans-and-seas","tag-proceedings-of-the-national-academy-of-sciences","tag-research","tag-south-and-southeast-asia-and-pacific-areas","tag-your-feed-science"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up in Fiji, 5,000 Miles From Home - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up in Fiji, 5,000 Miles From Home - World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For decades, the native iguanas of Fiji and Tonga have presented an evolutionary mystery. Every other living iguana species dwells\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-17T19:29:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"News\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/person\/1d8ae7348e048cb7984f26b4dd818ff2\"},\"headline\":\"These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up in Fiji, 5,000 Miles From Home\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-17T19:29:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-17T19:29:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/\"},\"wordCount\":794,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Far East\",\"Fiji\",\"Genetics and Heredity\",\"Iguanas\",\"North America\",\"Oceans and Seas\",\"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\",\"Research\",\"South and Southeast Asia and Pacific Areas\",\"your-feed-science\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/\",\"name\":\"These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up in Fiji, 5,000 Miles From Home - World News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-17T19:29:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-17T19:29:01+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1\",\"width\":1050,\"height\":550},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up in Fiji, 5,000 Miles From Home\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/\",\"name\":\"World News\",\"description\":\"World News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#organization\",\"name\":\"World News\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/01\/cropped-download.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/01\/cropped-download.png\",\"width\":581,\"height\":581,\"caption\":\"World News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/person\/1d8ae7348e048cb7984f26b4dd818ff2\",\"name\":\"News\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up in Fiji, 5,000 Miles From Home - World News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up in Fiji, 5,000 Miles From Home - World News","og_description":"For decades, the native iguanas of Fiji and Tonga have presented an evolutionary mystery. Every other living iguana species dwells","og_url":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/","og_site_name":"World News","article_published_time":"2025-03-17T19:29:01+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/"},"author":{"name":"News","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/person\/1d8ae7348e048cb7984f26b4dd818ff2"},"headline":"These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up in Fiji, 5,000 Miles From Home","datePublished":"2025-03-17T19:29:01+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-17T19:29:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/"},"wordCount":794,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1","keywords":["Far East","Fiji","Genetics and Heredity","Iguanas","North America","Oceans and Seas","Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences","Research","South and Southeast Asia and Pacific Areas","your-feed-science"],"articleSection":["Science"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/","url":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/","name":"These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up in Fiji, 5,000 Miles From Home - World News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1","datePublished":"2025-03-17T19:29:01+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-17T19:29:01+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1","width":1050,"height":550},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/these-iguanas-got-carried-away-and-ended-up-in-fiji-5000-miles-from-home\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"These Iguanas Got Carried Away and Ended Up in Fiji, 5,000 Miles From Home"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/","name":"World News","description":"World News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#organization","name":"World News","url":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/01\/cropped-download.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/01\/cropped-download.png","width":581,"height":581,"caption":"World News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/person\/1d8ae7348e048cb7984f26b4dd818ff2","name":"News","url":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=150&resize=150,150&ssl=1","medium":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=300&resize=300,300&ssl=1","medium_large":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=768&resize=768,0&ssl=1","large":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1024&resize=1024,1024&ssl=1","1536x1536":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1536&resize=1536,1536&ssl=1","2048x2048":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=2048&resize=2048,2048&ssl=1","colormag-highlighted-post":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=392&resize=392,272&ssl=1","colormag-featured-post-medium":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=390&resize=390,205&ssl=1","colormag-featured-post-small":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=130&resize=130,90&ssl=1","colormag-featured-image":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=800&resize=800,445&ssl=1","colormag-default-news":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=150&resize=150,150&ssl=1","colormag-featured-image-large":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1400&resize=1400,600&ssl=1","colormag-elementor-block-extra-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1155&resize=1155,480&ssl=1","colormag-elementor-grid-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=600&resize=600,417&ssl=1","colormag-elementor-grid-small-thumbnail":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=285&resize=285,450&ssl=1","colormag-elementor-grid-medium-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=575&resize=575,198&ssl=1"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"News","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e85cf08852547781a5f631f3713dbb5197ed4b54e32ae19c7d5769b8c8504897?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":false,"magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"For decades, the native iguanas of Fiji and Tonga have presented an evolutionary mystery. Every other living iguana species dwells","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["Science"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":66,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":4,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1",1050,550,false],"medium":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=300&resize=300,300&ssl=1",300,300,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/03\/17\/multimedia\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk\/17tb-iguanas-gwpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=150&resize=150,150&ssl=1",150,150,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"News","author_link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/author\/admin\/"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e85cf08852547781a5f631f3713dbb5197ed4b54e32ae19c7d5769b8c8504897?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-38\">Science<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}