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Evolution Earth
The Marine Iguanas' Unusual Shrinking Adaptation
On the Galápagos Islands, Greg Lewbart and his team are trying to catch a marine iguana. Their goal is to study the iguana’s unusual adaptation. They have evolved the ability to shrink and regrow their vertebrae in response to changes in food availability. These conditions arises when the Pacific Ocean that is home to the algae they feed on warms, a result of the weather system known as El Niño.
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