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HernandosMom
08-20-2010, 06:04 AM
Last month I was very fortunate to visit the Svalbard Islands. I saw these two Polar Tegus (Tupinambis iciclesesea) basking. The first was taken while our boat was parked in pack ice in a fyord. It walked up to the boat from a mile away to lick it and see if it was edible, then rolled on the ice to cool down:

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The next one was basking while the sun was high at 2:30 a.m., even though it was a bit overcast:

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We were in a zodiac and it was basking on the shore. It did not jump up to eat us because it had previously gorged itself on a rotting whale carcass. You can see some of the smelly whale flesh on its snout. It really stank. Hernando would have wiped his nose clean on the ice then demanded to be taken away from the stinky area, but this one didn't seem to mind.:lol:

laurarfl
08-20-2010, 11:12 AM
Sounds like an awesome time! And to think...I didn't even know Polar Tegus existed. :)