Fiji Crested Iguana (foto by Klaus Jost)
For my first-ever post that relates science and art, I chose a contribution of cinema to the science of biology. That would be the discovery of a new iguana species by a herpetologist, IN a movie! No kidding! The scientist was Dr. John Gibbons, the film was “Blue Lagoon”, and the iguana was named Fiji crested iguana (Brachylophus vitiensis).
The biologist, who was invited to the film screening and studying at the time another local iguana (Fiji banded iguana) at the University of South Pacific, was struck by the iguana. He saw the lizard, realized he had never seen her again, traveled back to Blue Lagoon Island, found her, started running around naked shouting “Eureka” (ok, that’s speculation), and wrote a paper about her.
The poor green-crested guy is nowadays a critically endangered species of iguana. Fingers crossed, they will make it, spread around, and perhaps we will see them again in a future box-office hit!
Science Eve 