Yucatan Spiny-Tailed Iguana

The Yucatán Spiny-Tailed Iguana (Cachryx defensor) is a species of lizard in the family Iguanidae. It is endemic to northern Yucatán, Mexico. The Yucatan Dwarf Club-tailed Iguana is mostly an arboreal species of iguana, though they have been seen on the ground basking, hunting, and avoiding predators on rocky outcroppings. Their eating habits are a little odd because they favor leaves over the typical iguana diet of flowers, fruit, and saplings.

Though most of its body is brown and grey, it has bright orange patches across its midsection. This unique coloration along with its wide, spiked tail makes the Yucatan spiny-tailed iguana a stunning sight to behold. This species' breeding season starts in the spring, and to entice females, males engage in overt visual and physical displays. Although the female is picky about choosing the ideal location to lay her eggs, generally in a tree hollow or in a rocky fissure, she does not offer parental care for the young and may even leave the region while they are incubating. Between April and June, the eggs hatch, bringing about the start of the young's solitary existence.