How Did Iguanas Get to Fiji?

Based on genetic comparisons of the genomes of various iguana species, researchers believe iguanas floated across the ocean on mats of vegetation (maybe assisted by some “island hopping”), with a group of iguanas eventually landing on the shores of Fiji and dispersing. And, well, that scenario is what creation researchers have been suggesting for a long time—but when creationists proposed such mechanisms, secularists mocked us!

We’re often asked how creatures got around the world after the flood when the ark landed on the mountains of Ararat in the Middle East. Well, rafting is one method! The post-flood ocean would’ve been filled with debris that would have floated around on ocean currents for years, even decades, before finally decaying or sinking. Many animals and even plants could have hitched rides to far-flung places simply by hanging out on these floating mats. Others “island hopped” via island chains that are now underwater (the post-flood ice age would’ve temporarily lowered ocean levels) or were moved about by humans.

God created their kind with the genetic diversity to fill a variety of ecological niches.

As various kinds (such as the iguana kind) ended up in new places, they began to adapt to that climate and environment, using the genetic diversity God built into their genome. That’s why marine iguanas thrive in the salty waters of the Galápagos and green iguanas flourish in the warm tropical forests of Central and South America (and now Florida and Hawaii, where they’re considered invasive). God created their kind with the genetic diversity to fill a variety of ecological niches.

So we would agree with these researchers that these iguanas likely rafted across the sea to their current home—but we’d disagree on the timeline. It didn’t happen tens of millions of years ago. It happened sometime after the global flood of Noah’s day, just 4,350 years ago.

Get More Answers on Answers News

This item was discussed Monday on Answers News with cohosts Dr. Tim Chaffey, Patricia Engler, and Avery Foley. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum, broadcast on our Answers in Genesis YouTube channel, and posted to Answers TV. We also covered the following topics:

• JWST perplexes evolutionary astronomers . . . again.
• Half of churches experiencing growth since 2020.
• Did “microlightning” start life in water droplets?
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Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.