{"id":2191552,"date":"2026-06-25T06:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T05:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2191552"},"modified":"2026-06-21T16:44:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T15:44:47","slug":"these-baby-iguanas-must-run-for-their-lives-or-theyll-be-constricted-to-death-by-snakes-will-they-make-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/these-baby-iguanas-must-run-for-their-lives-or-theyll-be-constricted-to-death-by-snakes-will-they-make-it\/","title":{"rendered":"These baby iguanas must run for their lives \u2013 or they\u2019ll be constricted to death by snakes. Will they make it?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Marine iguanas\u00a0can reach an impressive age of 60 years, but their average lifespan is 12 years or less \u2013 which is not surprising, considering what they have to face straight out of the egg.<\/p>\n<p>Galapagos\u00a0racer snakes\u00a0are 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 \u2013 waiting in ambush, hidden among rocks.<\/p>\n<p>And this astonishing behaviour was captured for the BBC\u2019s\u00a0<em>Planet Earth II<\/em>, with the\u00a0sequence later winning a BAFTA Award.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnother hatchling has its first glimpse of a dangerous world,\u201d narrates\u00a0David Attenborough\u00a0as one of the hatchlings is constricted and eaten by the snakes.<\/p>\n<p>Another one takes this macabre spectacle as an opportunity to dash away \u2013 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.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe id=\"734461863\" title=\"Iguana vs Snakes | 4K UHD | Planet Earth II | BBC Earth\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rGpuxOr3QCc?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.discoverwildlife.com\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-129157385_7=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-18=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-25=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cA near-miraculous escape. The lucky survivors can begin learning the unique way of life demanded by this hostile island,\u201d concludes Attenborough.<\/p>\n<p><em>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/tv\/baby-iguanas-vs-racer-snakes-planet-earth-ii\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">article <\/a>by Magda Patynska was first published by Discover Wildlifen on 16 June 2026. Lead Image: Marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus hassi). Credit: AndamanSE\/Getty Images<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Make a donation<\/h2>\n<p>If you believe in our good work, please support us in any way you can. Your generosity allows us to work to protect wildlife and habitats. Thank you!<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/install-popup-button.js\" id=\"donorbox-popup-button-installer\"> <\/script><a id=\"preview_inline_popup_button\" class=\"dbox-donation-button\" style=\"background: #0dc5dc; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; display: flex; gap: 8px; width: fit-content; font-size: 16px; border-radius: 5px; line-height: 24px; padding: 8px 24px;\" href=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/focusing-on-wildlife-needs-your-support?default_interval=m&amp;amount=25\" data-reminder-widget-enabled=\"true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">DONATE NOW<\/a><script type=\"module\" src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/widgets.js\" async><\/script><\/p>\n<hr style=\"border-top: 1px solid white;\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marine iguanas\u00a0can reach an impressive age of 60 years, but their average lifespan is 12 years or less \u2013 which is not surprising, considering what they have to face straight out of the egg. Galapagos\u00a0racer snakes\u00a0are on high alert, knowing that this will be their best feeding opportunity all year. A baby iguana is more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1178,"featured_media":2206319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2219029506.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6985,5],"tags":[12476,4505],"class_list":["post-2191552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wildlife","tag-iguanas","tag-snakes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2191552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2206319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2191552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2191552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2191552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}