The San Diego Zoo had received Fiji Island banded iguanas as a gift from the Prince of Tonga in 1965, and it was a happy day in the Reptile House when the Zoo's first offspring of this rare species hatched on November 5, 1981. The only other hatchings of these iguanas outside of Fiji had been at the Sacramento Zoo and the Knoxville Zoo, and the San Diego Zoo staff were pleased to join the efforts to breed these beautiful lizards that were declining in their native habitat.