Helmeted Iguana

The smooth helmeted iguana is a medium-sized lizard with long slim legs and very long toes. It can be grey, olive, brown, black or reddish-brown with irregular blotches. The smooth helmeted iguana can change the color of its skin as a method of camouflage. As indicated by its name, the smooth helmeted iguana has a prominent crest on its head, which tapers to a saw-tooth ridge down its back. The crest is present in both males and females of the species, though the crest is larger in males. C. cristatus is approximately 9–12 cm (4–5 in) in snout-to-vent length (SVL) when mature. It is a non-heliotherm species, meaning that it does not use the sun to increase its body temperature. Rather, it maintains its body temperature at around 26 °C (79 °F), close to the temperature of the forest floor habitat where it lives. It is very wary of predators and freezes at the approach of danger from up to 15 m (49 ft) away.

C. cristatus can be found ranging from Chiapas in southern Mexico to north-western Colombia. The habitat it primarily occupies in this range is primary and secondary mesic rain-forest. It lives predominantly in trees, but also hunts on the forest floor where it uses leaf litter as a micro-habitat.

Adult females of C. cristatus lay five to six eggs in a depression on the forest floor. It is speculated that the crest on the head may be used in excavating the nest.

The smooth helmeted iguana is named for the prominent casque, or crest on the back of its head and neck which has the appearance of a helmet.