The Iguanas That Rafted To Fiji

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Most iguanas are indigenous to the Americas. So how did the Fijian species end up on the island, nearly 5000 miles away in the South Pacific? According to a new study in the journal PNAS, it was probably via raft ... that is, on clump of floating trees.

And this rafting hypothesis isn't entirely unprecedented. After hurricanes Luis and Marilyn hit the Caribbean in the 1990s, researchers found that a group of iguanas had floated over 180 miles away from Guadeloupe to the territory of Anguilla.

Want to hear more about iguanas? Or rafts? Or evolutionary biology? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This message comes from MintMobile. MintMobile took what's wrong with wireless and made it right.
0:05.3	They offer premium wireless plans for less, and all plans include high-speed data, unlimited talk and text, and nationwide coverage.
0:12.2	See for yourself at mintmobile.com slash switch.
0:16.6	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:22.0	Hey, Shortwaivers, Regina Barber here.
0:24.4	And today I'm joined by NPR's Jonathan Lambert.
0:26.9	Hey, John.
0:27.5	Hey, Gina.
0:28.1	So today you're bringing us a story that you say is sort of like half mystery, half swashbuckling adventure.
0:34.5	Yes, it's seafaring, exploration, intrigue. Oh my gosh, this is giving me
0:39.6	very like one-piece vibes. Okay. And on top of all of that, it's about iguanas. Specifically,
0:45.2	iguanas native to the tropical island of Fiji, and how they got to this super isolated island
0:50.8	has always been a bit of a mystery. Why was it a mystery?
0:55.6	So most iguanas are native to the Americas, with some in the Caribbean and some on the Galapagos
1:00.6	islands. Fiji is like one-fifth of the way around the globe, and while some iguanas can swim,
1:06.6	they can't swim that far.
1:08.3	Okay, so like how did these like landbound wind up, like, all the way across Pacific?
1:13.9	According to a new paper, they floated.
1:16.5	What?
1:17.3	What did they float on?
1:19.0	Likely some big clump of down trees and other vegetation that became a raft of sorts.
1:24.2	Okay, okay.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.