AnimalsThe mystery of how iguanas crossed the Pacific Ocean may be solvedIguanas floated to Fiij from North America 30 million years ago The ancestors of Fijis iguanas, such as the Fijian crested iguana (Brachylophus vitiensis, shown here), may have arrived in the islands by floating across the Pacific Ocean on vegetation over 30 million years ago.Nicholas HessBy Jake Buehler12 seconds agoScaly sailors may have made a record-setting oceanic voyage. Tens of millions of years ago, iguanas in North America floated across the Pacific Ocean. Clinging to vegetation washed into the sea, they traveled one-fifth of the way around the world, eventually disembarking and settling in the islands of the South Pacific, researchers report March 17 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The seafaring lizards trip may be the longest known transocean emigration among land vertebrates.Its just a truly incredible example of long-distance dispersal, says Ethan Gyllenhaal, an evolutionary biologist at Texas Tech University in Lubbock who was not involved with the research.