Despite their name, Green iguanas can come in different colors. In southern countries of their range, green iguanas appear bluish in color with bold black markings and animals of the northern ranges, such as Mexico, appear orange.
Iguana possess a row of spines along their backs and along their tails which helps to protect them from predators. Their whip-like tails can be used to deliver painful strikes and like many other lizards, when grabbed by the tail, the iguana can allow it to break, so it can escape and eventually regenerate a new one.
The Green iguana is a large lizard, typically growing to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) in length from head to tail. Some specimens have been measured upwards of 2 metres (6.6 ft) with bodyweights greater than 20 pounds (9.1 kg).
The biggest threats to their continued survival in the wilderness are habitat destruction and hunting, for both food and for the pet trade. Unfortunately for the Green Iguana, which are known to some who eat them as “bamboo chickens” they are, in addition to apparently being rather tasty, one of the most popular reptile pets in the United States though they are difficult to keep and most die in their first year in captivity.