Marine iguanas can reach an impressive age of 60 years, but their average lifespan is 12 years or less – which is not surprising, considering what they have to face straight out of the egg.
Galapagos racer snakes are on high alert, knowing that this will be their best feeding opportunity all year. A baby iguana is more than capable of outrunning a racer snake on flat ground, but the snakes are prepared – waiting in ambush, hidden among rocks.
And this astonishing behaviour was captured for the BBC’s Planet Earth II, with the sequence later winning a BAFTA Award.
“Another hatchling has its first glimpse of a dangerous world,” narrates David Attenborough as one of the hatchlings is constricted and eaten by the snakes.
Another one takes this macabre spectacle as an opportunity to dash away – and it must stay very still and keep its nerve to remain undetected by the approaching snake. The Galapagos racer possesses highly evolved, acute vision adapted to detect the slightest movement.
“A near-miraculous escape. The lucky survivors can begin learning the unique way of life demanded by this hostile island,” concludes Attenborough.
Top image: marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus hassi). Credit: AndamanSE/Getty Images
