Rare iguana finds new home at zoo

A NEW exhibit including a dedicated home for a threatened Caribbean lizard has opened at Colchester Zoo.

The area, called World's Apart, is made up of six new enclosures and was developed on the site of the former Aquatic House at the Stanway tourist attraction.

And its completion sees the zoo's pair of rhinoceros iguanas - so called because of their plated noses - moving from their previous location, in the Heart of the Amazon exhibit, to a larger area.

Their new, open enclosure has been made with a glass wall to provide viewing for all visitors, including young children and wheelchair users.

Keepers at the zoo hope that once they have settled in, the rhinoceros iguanas, which are part of an European Endangered Species Programme, may breed to help boost numbers.

The animals can grow to up to as much as four feet long and mostly eat plants and fruit, although in the wild they have been seen occasionally eating lizards and insects.

Although they are generally placid and normally flee when threatened, if they are cornered rhinoceros iguanas can become very aggressive, biting and repeatedly attacking with their long and heavy tails.