Book 32, Question 109
Why do marine iguanas sneeze salt?
Eating seaweed in the salty ocean means a marine iguana takes in a lot of salt.
Salt glands near its nose get rid of the extra. The iguana snorts, and the salty spray shoots out. Some of the salt dries into a white crust on its head. Your kidneys do the job of clearing salt from your body, but the iguana gets a little help from its nose.
Watch the videoWatch on YouTubeSee the series on Amazon
Quick answers
Why do marine iguanas sneeze salt?
Marine iguanas take in a lot of salt when they feed in the ocean, but they are able to expel it through their nostrils.
Source: Natural History Museum, London
More fun facts
- To cope with the amount of salt they consume while grazing in the ocean, marine iguanas have a specially adapted gland that removes salt from their bodies.
- Galápagos marine iguanas are the only lizards known to forage for food in the ocean.
- Marine iguanas are exothermic, so they have to bask in the Sun to raise their body temperature.
- Marine iguanas feed on the green and red algae that grow in the waters around the Galápagos Archipelago.
- Scientists think the iguanas arrived in the archipelago by rafting and then diverged into the land-dwelling and marine iguanas seen on the Galápagos Islands today.
Sources: Natural History Museum, London