"I will speak of the glorious honor of Thy majesty, and of Thy wondrous works" (Psa. 145:5).
In a previous volume we looked at the family of lizards called iguanas found throughout the deserts, forests and waters of the world.
Most iguanas look actually like miniature dragons, but are actually shy and are not a threat to people. A grown one will weigh as much as ten pounds and be six feet or more long, including its long, thin tail.
Another of these is the tropical green iguana, making its home among the trees from Panama to Brazil. It also looks like a miniature dragon, with its sharp claws as well as spines sticking up all along its back. But this one is also really shy and hides when anyone gets near it. Except when hunting food, it likes to stretch out on the limb of a tall tree and enjoy a sunbath. It looks so much like the bark of native trees that it is difficult to spot unless it is moving.
Its principal food is tender leaves and shoots high in tall trees, as well as wild fruits. Little ones are hatched from eggs laid by the mother in a hole she has dug in the sand or ground. Soon after hatching she takes them up into a tall tree where they feel right at home and live up there until nearly full grown. They eat leaves and buds and drink water from cuplike leaves that hold rainwater. The parents often spend time with the little ones up in the trees, but they gather much of their food down on the ground, because they can more quickly escape if anything dangerous shows up.
But, sad to say, natives in those tropical areas have discovered that iguanas are good to eat. It has been necessary to pass laws limiting the amount of hunting that can be done, for fear that before long none would be left. As a result, farmers are allowed to raise them on their own properties and sell them to meat markets, where they receive a good price. Iguana meat tastes so good it is sometimes nicknamed "chicken of the trees."
A contrasting species is the Galapagos marine iguana, somewhat larger and heavier than those found in deserts and forests. Groups of these may vary in color, but their leather-like bodies are most often brownish-black or gray. Their skin is coarse and fierce-looking with fleshy upright spikes from the top of their heads to the end of their tails.
This species likes to cling in large groups to the steep, rough rocks rising above low tides of the ocean beaches and feast on seaweed and other marine plants that grow there. They are good swimmers.
Read the Bible verse again at the beginning of this article. Are you one of the happy ones who believes and trusts the Lord God who created all things? Another Bible verse says: "Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name" (1 Chron. 16:88Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. (1 Chronicles 16:8)). Have you done this?