Marine iguanas of the Galapagos face acute welfare challenges from El Nino events and rising ocean temperatures that dramatically affect their food supply and survival.
Marine iguana starvation during El Nino events represents mass suffering on a scale difficult to comprehend. Iguanas become progressively weaker, unable to thermoregulate effectively, and increasingly vulnerable to predation as starvation advances. The process of starvation causes lethargy, muscle wasting, and eventual organ failure - a prolonged death process that affects entire populations simultaneously. Those that survive face significantly compromised health. As climate change intensifies El Nino frequency, this welfare crisis will recur more often with less recovery time between events, potentially exceeding the species' remarkable adaptive capacity.