I suspect this rather hefty desert iguana was a gravid female. She was the only desert iguana we saw in Cholla Garden, but further south towards Cottonwood Springs we saw many near the road.

This desert iguana had climbed up into a mesquite bush to better sample its foliage.

This large adult was warming up in the morning (around 9 AM). It didn't bother moving as I got closer and closer shots, though it kept a wary eye on me. On its neck you can see the small crest that led to the older "crested lizard" moniker. That's really not much of a crest when compared with something like a basilisk, though.

We ran into a colony of tiny desert iguanas in the bushes around the excellent little Maturango Museum. They couldn't have been much more than hatchlings, perhaps 5 inches long including tail.

As I drove across Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area on my way to Borrego Springs, I was pleasantly surprised to see that despite the above-110-degree temperature, the desert iguanas still weren't hot enough. Several of them were basking on the road, presumably for the additional warmth of the blistering pavement. Their extremely high body temperatures gave them tremendous speed, and each time I'd spot one and pull off the road to try to sneak up for a picture, it would rocket off into the desert. I chased this one around a creosote bush for at least ten minutes before finally giving up with only a few mediocre photos.