Galápagos pink land iguana

By David Brito, Galapagos Dana Tours · Mindo, Ecuador · Updated 5 October 2026

Start with the bad news, because most searches end here: you cannot see the pink land iguana. It lives in a single closed zone on the slopes of Wolf Volcano in northern Isabela, and that area is off-limits to tourism; only researchers enter. This page exists so you know what you are missing, why, and which iguana to see instead.

What it is

A species of its own, Conolophus marthae, pink with dark banding, described by science only in 2009 after years of suspicion that the odd pink iguanas park rangers occasionally saw were not just a color variant of the common land iguana. Genetics confirmed it: a lineage older and separate from the yellow land iguanas, numbering roughly 200–300 individuals, all on one volcano slope. It was the first new large reptile species described in Galápagos in decades, which says how much remains unstudied in the remote north.

Why pink?

The coloration is not camouflage. It is the absence of pigment in the skin, which reveals the blood vessels and connective tissue underneath. Genetic work published in 2024 confirmed that the pink iguana diverged from the common land iguana lineage roughly 5.7 million years ago, making it one of the oldest living lineages in the archipelago, not a recent mutation.

Conservation

Critically Endangered. Everything about the species concentrates risk: one population, one location, small numbers, and an active volcano overhead. The 2015 eruption of Wolf Volcano sent lava flows within a few kilometres of the iguana zone; researchers still do not know how close it came. That is why the National Park keeps the area permanently closed: no buffer, no tourism, no exception. Habitat protection, not visitor management, is the whole game here.

The 2021–2024 expeditions finally confirmed juvenile recruitment, the first evidence in decades that the population is breeding successfully. Even so, with about 211 individuals in the 2024 estimate (mark-recapture figures run 150–270), one lava flow or one feral-cat introduction would be terminal.

Where you cannot see it, and what to see instead

• Wolf Volcano slope, Isabela: closed. No tour, no permit, no exception for visitors. Because the zone is closed, there are no visitor-season recommendations: the species has a calendar, tourism does not.
• Wolf Volcano itself appears on some liveaboard dive itineraries as a skyline, not a landing; the northern Isabela cruise routes are in our cruise vs land guide.
• The substitutes that still deliver are below. The yellow land iguanas at Cerro Dragón are the closest accessible relative: same body plan, same burrowing behaviour, same diet of Opuntia cactus pads. The pink colouring is the only thing you miss.

The land iguana you can actually see has its own page.

How the species was found

Park rangers first noticed pink iguanas on Wolf Volcano in 1986, but for two decades they were treated as a curiosity: odd-coloured individuals of the common land iguana, perhaps, or sick ones. It took genetic sampling in the 2000s to show that the pink animals were not a colour morph but a lineage that had split from the other land iguanas millions of years ago, before most of the present islands even existed. The formal description came in 2009, and with it the realisation that the species had been hiding in plain sight on one of the archipelago’s least accessible slopes.

What followed was a slow, careful census rather than a rescue. Because the population is so small and the terrain so remote, researchers climb to the iguana zone only on planned expeditions, mark and measure the animals they find, and leave. The 2021 to 2024 expeditions, which finally recorded hatchlings and juveniles, were the first good news in the species’ short scientific history, and the reason the park’s position has not changed: the best thing visitors can do for the pink iguana is not visit it.

Frequently asked questions

Can tourists see the pink iguana?

No. It lives in a single closed zone on the slopes of Wolf Volcano on Isabela, off-limits to all visitors. Only researchers enter, on planned expeditions.

How many pink iguanas are there?

Roughly 200–300 individuals, with a 2024 estimate of about 211 adults. Juveniles were confirmed for the first time in the 2021–2024 expeditions.

Why is the pink iguana pink?

An absence of pigment in the skin reveals the blood vessels and tissue beneath. It is not camouflage: the species diverged from the common land iguana roughly 5.7 million years ago.

Sources

• Juvenile recruitment in the pink land iguana, Conservation Science and Practice (2024)
• Biodiversity of Galápagos, Galápagos Conservancy

Last verified: October 2026