Why Is South Florida Overrun with Green Iguanas?

area more like the forked tongued denial monitor. The creature we're specifically alluding to here is the green iguana, taxonomical name Iguana iguana. It ranks among the largest lizards in the Western Hemisphere. Adult females can be five feet that's one and a half meters in length, while the biggest males may reach an impressive seven feet or two meters

long from nose to tail tip. An average weight is around fifteen pounds or four and a half kilos, though heavier specimens weighing seventeen pounds or seven and a half kilos or more have been documented, and despite its proportions, The species has long been a staple in the exotic pet trade and unfortunately a victim of abandonment when they get too big. That's helped these critters spread far beyond their natural range, causing property damage and competition with native wildlife.

By and large, green iguanas are herbivores. They may eat insects or dead meat on occasion, but it's fruits and leaves that make up the bulk of their diet. Though too, green iguanas vegetation isn't just a food source. This is a tree loving animal that, given its druthers, spends most of its time basking in forest canopies. Scaling branches comes easily to the lizards. With their long fingers and hooked claws.

These guys are first rate climbers. Of course, you don't spend a lifetime in the treetops without taking the occasional spill. Green iguanas have been known to withstand fift foot that's fifteen meter falls and walk away uninjured. This species is also perfectly at home in the water. I'm much like alligators. The animals swim by undulating their tails from side to side. Frightened iguana might also choose to seek refuge below the

surface if a predator is lurking about. We are not used to thinking of non avian reptiles as sociable, but yet the green iguana is somewhat gregarious. Hatchlings are born in underground nests, sometimes in the vicinity of crocodilians. Baby iguanas stick together, forming social groups with their siblings for mutual protection. Such units can last for months, during which time the young lizards groom one another and sleep side by side or in piles iguana. Iguana is sexually dimorphic,

with females looking visibly different from their masculine counterparts. Both sexes have dew laps, that's folds of loose skin that dangle below the neck. These are proportionately larger in males and an important communication tool. Come breeding season, a male iguana will defend a huge territory and ideally mate with a number of females, whom he'll guard for an extended period. To scare off rivals, males aggressively bob their heads up

and down, dew laps flapping all the while. While we're here, let's discuss coloration and not all green iguanas are literally green They also come in shades of brown, blue, red, and gray, and males often turn orange or bronze ish when it's time to court potential mates. Today, the green iguana remains one of the United states most popular reptilian pets, but that doesn't mean they're easy to care for. Sharing your life with an iguana can be deeply rewarding, but

you should know what you're getting into beforehand. Hatchlings will be about eight inches that's twenty centimes long, and might fare nicely in a tabletop terrarium, but experienced hobbyists recommend that adult enclosures measure at least six ft high by x feet wide and twelve feet long in meters that's about two by two by three and a half. Before it was artificially introduced to new environments, the green iguana was restricted to Central and South America, along with a

smattering of islands in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean. Back in at least fifteen of the lizards suddenly appeared on a Caribbean island with no pre existing green iguana population. The scientists think the reptiles road floating mats of uprooted vegetation that drifted out to sea in the wake of Hurricanes Luis and Maryland. Presumably the raft bound castaways traveled all the way from Guadaloupe, some two hundred miles or

three kilometers to the south. Unfortunately, when the local climate is favorable, iguana iguana can thrive in places where it doesn't belong. In nineteen sixty six, the first scientific report on invasive iguanas in South Florida was published. It seems likely that many individuals reached the Florida and Peninsula by going away on boats and in shipping crates. America's booming

pet industry sure didn't help alone. More than one point one four million iguanas were imported into the United States. Although it's possible to buy captive bread specimens nowadays, a wild cop babies are still being shipped to the US and mass It's unclear how many free ranging green iguanas are loose in South Florida. More than seven thousand iguana sidings have been recorded by the University of Georgia's Early

Detection and Distribution Mapping system. Since most of those after, a large percentage of the lizards now running about the state probably descend from escaped or unwanted pets. Ecologists warned that the herbivores are devouring important native plants, including a coastal vine that the endangered Miami blue butterfly lava feed on.

Various flowers may also be at risk. A green iguanas have been turning private gardens into buffets, and to add insult to injury, the Szard's leave feces on patios, boat decks, and other surfaces, and metaling iguanas are doing a number on Florida's infrastructure too, and just one iguana caused a ten minute power outage when it trespassed on a key West Electrical facility in two thousand eighteen, and West Palm Beach is facing one point eight million dollars in damages

incurred after tunneling iguanas messed up a local dam. In twenty nineteen, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission made headlines by encouraging homeowners to humanely kill green iguanas on their property whenever possible. One doesn't need a license or permit to hunt them on public lands. The several worried citizens have also called for Floridians to eat more iguana meat, which is a traditional protein in parts of the Caribbean.

Being cold blooded, iguanas have been unable to establish viable populations in northern recesses of the state. Even down south, the lizards occasionally fall victim to chili conditions. The animals go into paralysis when the thermometer hits forty four degrees fahrenheit or six point six celsius, which doesn't happen often in South Florida but did in January another cold snap

in killed off a large part of the iguana population. However, once the weather warms again, most adult iguanas can recover from this kind of temporary incapacitation. You do will to keep your distance. In the meantime, a stirring iguana can really bite. Today's episode is based on the article South Florida is overrun with green Iguanas on housetuffworks dot com, written by Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com and

is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.