It’s Raining Lizards in Florida: The Good, The Bad, The Devastating
In a recent post, I wrote about the alligators in North Carolina that found a way to adapt to the brutally cold temperatures that swept through the region just after the New Year holiday. Unfortunately, not all of the reptiles that were caught up in the cold were so fortunate.
Stories from northern Florida are downright depressing for reptile lovers. Lizards of all sizes, iguanas, and other such tree-dwelling species were found littering the ground after temperatures drop twenty degrees or more before the average.
It is not uncommon for lizards to fall from trees in these areas when cold weather hits. However, typically the lower temperatures only last a short period of time and the lizards enter a comatose-like state until the weather warms once again. During these times, they can fall to the ground. Unfortunately, the recent cold snap was too long and too intense for many of them. The number of dead reptiles was astounding, according to many reports.
The local authorities did warn, however, that not all of the fallen iguanas and lizards are dead. Many may still be in their preservation state. Once warmed, some may return to normal activity levels.
In some ways, the impact on the lizard populations is welcomed by Florida residents. There are some reptile species that were never intended to live in the state. The invasiveness of the green iguana, for instance, is blamed on people who adopted- and then couldn’t care for them as pets. They were released into an area that was not a native home for them. While they do thrive, they also cause an imbalance in the eco-system, which can be bad for the area. It isn’t just the lizards that have invaded the Florida borders. Monkeys and pythons have also increased drastically in population, despite the fact that they are not native species.
Video from National Geographic (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/iguana-invasive-reptiles-cold-weather-frozen-florida-spd/)
