Aruba Wildlife

All across the island, Aruba wildlife mingles with tourists and natives. It seems everywhere you turn, some little creature is looking back at you.

The most frequent example of Aruba wildlife (at least from what we saw on our honeymoon) is the iguana. These lizards roam all over the resort areas and may frighten those who are not expecting to see a miniature dinosaur next to them. But they are quite harmless, and they had breakfast with us everyday.

As my wife and I enjoyed our breakfast each morning outside the Radisson, a half dozen or so iguanas walked all around us. I even saw one make off with a piece of bacon that had fallen on the floor!

But I was really surprised at how much my wife liked the iguanas. I expected her to steer clear of them, but on our last day on the island she actually got to feed them. On the resort grounds, one of the workers gave her some lettuce and chick peas and the iguana ate it right out of her hand!

Aruba Wildlife Fact - For generations, Iguana meat was considered a delicacy in Aruba and was used in in soup and stews. Thankfully, that practice is now illegal.

As we drove around the island we saw several herds of goat as well as a few wild donkeys. These animals roam around the wild side of the island picking on grass and other vegetation.

We also saw some cottontail rabbits, and many beautiful birds. I'm not a birdwatcher, so I have no idea what species most of them were. But the one I did recognize was the pelican. We stopped for a little while to watch a group of pelicans swooping down and diving into the sea, only to emerge a few seconds later with fish in their mouths.

Other types of Aruba wildlife that we did not see during our vacation include snakes and bats.