Press Release: Blue Iguana Conservation Launches New Citizen Science Mobile Application
5th October 2022 – Blue Iguana Conservation (BIC), managed by the National Trust for the Cayman Islands (NTCI) is excited to officially launch ‘E-guana’ – its brand-new Citizen Science Mobile App.
The NTCI is calling on and inviting the general public and visitors to the Islands to download this new, free, mobile application and use it to submit pictures of any iguanas seen on any of our three islands, whether alive or deceased. This vital data will help inform the NTCI of iguana locations to help monitor populations of endemic Rock Iguanas, endemic Blue Iguanas and manage in real time responses to reports of invasive species, such as green iguanas.
BIC Programme Manager, Luke Harding said, “We are delighted to be able to launch this exciting app and encourage everyone who is either residing on, or visiting, these incredible Cayman Islands to do their bit to help us manage our endangered iguana species. The data submitted will be vital to increase our knowledge and understanding of where the iguanas are or prefer to be. The more information that we can gather from our general public, the better informed we will be to help protect Grand Cayman’s Blue Iguanas and the Sister Islands’ Rock Iguana species and deal with threats such as invasive species, development and road infrastructure.”
National Trust Chairperson, Melanie Carmichael said, “It is wonderful to see technology and science working together to help educate and monitor these rare and endangered species. Such small actions can manifest big impacts and each person gets the opportunity to be involved. The National Trust are very grateful for the institutions and donors sponsoring this work and I can’t wait to see what will be discovered.”
The mobile app was developed in partnership with Jay Mehta, Netclues and funded via private donations and a Darwin Plus grant. The app is free to download from the App Store (IoS) or Google Play (Android) and is very easy to use. To read full press release click here.
Click here to learn more about the app and download
Click here to view our ‘How To Guide’ for our free E-guana app.
