Hungry iguana chows down

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Photographer Petar Petrov captured this great shot of an iguana chowing down on cooled cucumber during an exotic animal exhibition in the Bulgarian town of Sevlievo earlier this week. Iguanas are herbivores, or more precicesly folivores, which eat primarily leaves.

According to exotic pet veterinarian Dr. Margaret Wissman, treats like cucumbers and other vegetables are fine for iguanas, as long as they don’t make up more than 10% to 15% of the lizard’s total food intake. The lion’s share of their diet should consist of ‘collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, bok choy, Swiss chard, clover, red or green cabbage, watercress, savoy, kohlrabi, dandelions, escarole, parsley and alfalfa pellets,’ Wissman writes.

Fun fact: The green or common iguana’s scientific name is simply Iguana iguana. (It’s not quite as fun to say as Gorilla gorilla gorilla, but we’ll take it!)

-- Lindsay Barnett