Where the garrobo owns the rocks, the green iguana owns the trees, especially any tree that overhangs water. Look up along a river or an estuary and count the long green shapes draped along the branches.
Where you’ll see it
Riverbanks, estuaries, mangroves and the wetter, greener patches of the coast, more around Tamarindo and Playa Grande than in dry Coco, though they turn up in gardens with big trees. They drop into water to escape and swim well.
What to know
Big, calm and almost entirely herbivorous as adults. The dewlap under the chin and the spiny crest down the back are the identifiers, along with the sheer length. Breeding males go orange and get bold about it.
Locally they have the old nickname gallina de palo, chicken of the tree, because they used to be eaten. They are protected now. Leave them alone and they will lie in the sun and ignore you, which is the whole arrangement.
