Iguanas likely crossed the Pacific millions of years ago on a record-setting rafting trip

Iguanas may have pulled off a 5000 mile voyage on a raft of floating vegetation to get to Fiji. Researchers have long wondered how iguanas got to the collection of remote islands in the South Pacific. In a new study, they discovered that Fijian iguanas were most closely related to desert iguanas from North America, and that the two groups split off around 31 million years ago. The iguanas most likely floated to Fiji from North America on a mass of uprooted trees and small plants, snacking on vegetation along the way. The research published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Iguanas may have pulled off a 5000 mile voyage on a raft of floating vegetation to get to Fiji. Researchers have long wondered how iguanas got to the collection of remote islands in the South Pacific. In a new study, they discovered that Fijian iguanas were most closely related to desert iguanas from North America, and that the two groups split off around 31 million years ago. The iguanas most likely floated to Fiji from North America on a mass of uprooted trees and small plants, snacking on vegetation along the way. The research published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  AP Technology and Science