Singapore — A magnificent creature was spotted lounging on the Sungei Serangoon Park Connector Network (PCN), garnering awe from netizens.
A rather chonky iguana is going viral on social media, boosting its reputation among fans who wish to see the herbivorous lizard.
“Second time meeting this beautiful creature along Sungei Serangoon PCN. The last time didn’t manage to get so up close to it,” wrote Facebook user Christine Teo on Singapore Cycling Community Facebook page on Oct 21.
Ms Teo shared photos of her sighting, receiving multiple comments by netizens who called it a “chonky, handsome guy.”
When asked if the iguana ran away during the photoshoot, the original poster noted it was very tame.
“A fellow cyclist who happened to be there shared that this is a male and that there is a green female lurking around somewhere. Have not seen the green one yet, though,” she added.
On Oct 26, another post was uploaded on SG PCN Cyclist page. Once again, the iguana was posing for the cameras.
At one point, it was surrounded by fans.
Others posted photos of their sighting of the iguana, such as Guoxing Shi, who saw it on Oct 28.
One Chua Xiang Long shared a photo taken 10 months ago. “Since then, I would always look out for it while along this stretch. So glad that it’s well and still gorgeous!”
According to the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Singapore) (ACRES), iguanas are not native to Singapore.
“Did you know that out of all the native wildlife in Singapore, Iguanas are not native to our sunny island at all. Iguanas are a popular choice of pets; legal to be kept in countries like America, where they are native to,” said ACRES.
“These beautiful reptiles are illegal to be kept as pets in Singapore; hence many of the iguanas you see out in the wild could just have had a family history of being part of the illegal wildlife trade here and been introduced into the wild, for example by abandonment.” /TISG
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