Nobody could accuse this fellow of being a lounge lizard because the Black Spiny-tailed Iguana can really move. In fact, with a top speed of 21.7 mph or 34.6 kph, it even has its own spot in the Guinness Book of Records as the fastest running lizard on earth. They are native to Mexico and Central America and have also been introduced to southern Florida.
I took this photo in the Mayan ruins of Tulum in Mexico on May 31st last year. He was over a metre long and, incredibly, after donning my running shoes and chasing him along the Mexican coast for twenty minutes I eventually caught up with him. No, I just made that last bit up. Fortunately for me he was sunning himself on the rocks or my photo would have just been of a blurry dot in the distance.
