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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eighty-three: Impressions of the Galapagos – an extended photo-essay > Land Iguana, Urbina Bay, Isabela Island, The Galapagos, Ecuador, 2012
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27-JUN-2012

Land Iguana, Urbina Bay, Isabela Island, The Galapagos, Ecuador, 2012

The closer we come to a Land Iguana, the more learn about its bizarre appearance. I zoomed in on the face of one of them, and caught it licking its foot. The small pink tongue becomes the focal point of the image, contrasting in both color and texture to the scaly skin that covers the body. There are 15,000 of these creatures in the Galapagos. They live in burrows, and eat cactus pads and insects. They can grow as large as three feet long. The sight of a huge Land Iguana licking its foot is incongruous -- at a glance, it seems vulnerable as a puppy, yet its giant claws are as menacing as a dinosaur's.

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1/800s f/9.0 at 72.0mm iso160 full exif

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Phil Douglis18-Sep-2012 21:40
You are right about that, Iris. The pink tongue is the pivot upon which everything rests.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)18-Sep-2012 20:12
The tongue is an amazing focal point in this image. It leads the eye up to the reptilian face of the iguana and then down to its ominous claws.
Phil Douglis26-Jul-2012 21:01
I agree. Without the tongue, this portrait does not tell much of a story. But with the shocking pink tongue, it not only expresses an incongruous relationship, but it also leads us to consider the huge nasty claws. By licking those huge claws with the miniature tongue, the iguana seems far more vulnerable.
Tim May26-Jul-2012 17:55
The red here functions, for me, in the same way that the yellow of the bird did with the turtle - A wonderful exclamation point.
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