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AP/Press Association Images

A volcano could be about to make these lizards extinct

Wolf volcano had last erupted in 1982.

A VOLCANO IN the Galapagos islands erupted for the first time in more than 30 years on Monday, sending streams of lava flowing down its slopes and potentially threatening the world’s only colony of pink iguanas.

The Galapagos National Park warned on Twitter that Isabela Island, where Wolf volcano erupted at dawn, holds “the world’s only population” of the iguanas, Conolophus marthae, also known as the Galapagos rosy iguana.

Park officials told AFP they were not immediately able to establish whether the iguanas were at risk from the eruption.

A tourist boat passing by the uninhabited island informed authorities the 1,707-meter (5,600-foot) volcano was erupting.

Park officials then flew over the area to assess the impact of the eruption.

Pictures released by the park show fiery streams of lava trickling down the side of the volcano as a puff of smoke rises into the air and tongues of fire dart from the crater.

Wolf volcano had last erupted in 1982.

screen shot 2015-05-26 at 09.25.09 Businessinsider Businessinsider

Isabela Island is the largest in the Galapagos, the Ecuadoran archipelago made famous by Charles Darwin’s studies of its breathtaking biodiversity, which was crucial in his development of the theory of evolution by natural selection.

The island chain, which sits about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off the coast of Ecuador, is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world.

Isabela island, which strides the equator, also has four other volcanoes: Darwin, Alcedo, Cerro Azul and Sierra Negra.

Read: Gingers could go extinct due to warming temperatures

Read: Despite what you may have heard, great white sharks are NOT at risk of extinction

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    Mute TheLoneHurler
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    Sep 8th 2014, 6:44 PM

    Great news, hopefully, most if not all former staff can be rehired.

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    Mute John Michael
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    Sep 8th 2014, 7:14 PM

    They’ve already been rehired by other hospitals. It’s amazing how the public service hired them when students have to go abroad for work because of the so called embargo. As ever in the public service, it’s who you know, not what you know.

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    Mute voice of raisin
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    Sep 9th 2014, 12:57 AM

    Well, seeing as they’re more experienced than students, then it is a case of what they know, isn’t it?

    I’d rather be treated by an experienced medical professional than a student.

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    Mute Tom Red
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    Sep 8th 2014, 6:23 PM

    Will Paddy the plasterer be doing some of the renovations?????……

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    Mute Richard Rodgers
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    Sep 8th 2014, 7:25 PM

    This is a sensible investment by the HSE and improves the opportunity to clear some of the blocked beds in the acute care Hospitals South of the Liffey.

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    Mute The Throwaway
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    Sep 8th 2014, 9:58 PM

    Indeed. I’ve been worried a long time now about the lack of services for people in South Dublin.

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    Mute David Thomas
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    Sep 8th 2014, 6:21 PM

    Confirmed after it was common knowledge

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    Mute David Thomas
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    Sep 8th 2014, 6:32 PM

    Can’t wait to see how much it will cost by the time the bureaucracy get involved. €11m might seem cheap!

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    Mute Joan Murphy
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    Sep 8th 2014, 7:27 PM

    Why the big secret in the first place ??

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    Mute Seany Hide
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    Sep 9th 2014, 2:29 AM

    Never fear, the priority of the HSE is to look after the special interest in the health service first, with the interests of the patients a distant second.

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    Mute Martin Donovan
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    Sep 8th 2014, 11:41 PM

    Ha, I was born in Mount Carmel

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    Mute Ernie Hendy
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    Sep 9th 2014, 6:38 AM

    The HSE to establish another gravy train.

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