1.5 Euro Spain 2022 Endangered Species – La Gomera Giant Lizard

One of the rarest and most endangered reptiles on Earth lives on the island of La Gomera, a small island in the archipelago of the Canary Islands. The giant lizard of La Gomera is an endemic species that was considered extinct until, at the end of the last century, thanks to the testimony of some locals who claimed to have seen it, it was rediscovered by a group of zoologists from the University of La Laguna. It is called Bravoana in honor of the Canarian paleontologist and geologist Telesforo Bravo. Since then, captive breeding has saved the species for a time. It is seriously threatened both by its limited geographic distribution (only two hectares of land) and by feral cats that may prey on them and rats that may devour their egg clutches. There are currently two populations of this reptile, one at the Giant Lizard Recovery Center in La Gomera (where it is captive-bred and successfully reintroduced into the wild) and the other in its natural habitat in La Gomera.

The coins of Spain were issued in a special design with enameling on the obverse, which ensures greater realism of the image.

The obverse of the Spanish 1.5 euro coin depicts the Giant lizard of La Gomera.

The reverse (common to all coins) depicts a floral ornament and animal tracks, the denomination and the inscription ANIMALES EN PELIGRO DE EXTINCIÓN (Endangered Animals).

Alloy: copper-nickel

Denomination: 1.5 euro

Weight: 15 grams

Diameter: 33mm

Quality: UNC

Circulation: 5000 pcs

The coin was released in Spain’s 2022 collection “Endangered Species”

The collection includes 16 coins:

African elephant

Giant otter

Iberian lynx

Giant lizard of La Gomera

Monk seal

Philippine eagle

Ring-tailed lemur

Bengal tiger

Blue iguana

Cantabrian brown bear

European mink

Gorilla

Irrawaddy Dolphin

Javan rhinoceros

Okapi

Orangutan