Who said that?

" I want Iguanaland to be here a hundred years after I’m gone."

The day is overcast, with a slight drizzle. And that makes the young lizards in Ty Park’s hands look even more dazzling, the rainbow as a living organism. They are contrasting shades of green and yellow and grey and sherbet orange – but they’re the same species, commonly known as the green iguana.

Cultivated genetic variations account for the diverse colors, and the specimens here carry traits for hypomelanism, or reduced pigmentation. That means they can be bred for albinism, or pretty much any shade within the spectrum of their recessive genes. And in this subculture of reptile breeding and conservation, affable Ty Park is a superstar when it comes producing dazzling “color morphs,” or “living art.”

Think of it not in terms of “Jurassic World” mutants, says Park, but something a lot more familiar. “Genetics can be very complicated, and we’re not there yet” in terms of nailing the desired look with each new clutch of eggs, he says. “But it’s no different from what we do with dogs. We just haven’t been breeding iguanas for 5,000 years.”

Read more at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune