Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Bogabam. Here, something perhaps even weirder
Speaker 1: than usual is happening in Florida. I grew up there,
Speaker 1: so I can make that joke. In case you hadn't heard.
Speaker 1: Iguanas are all but overrunning the Sunshine State, and we're
Speaker 1: talking about big lizards. They're thriving there because of South
Speaker 1: Florida's subtropical climate and the lack of natural predators, while
Speaker 1: there are lots of non native saurians trudging through the
Speaker 1: area more like the forked tongued denial monitor. The creature
Speaker 1: we're specifically alluding to here is the green iguana, taxonomical
Speaker 1: name Iguana iguana. It ranks among the largest lizards in
Speaker 1: the Western Hemisphere. Adult females can be five feet that's
Speaker 1: one and a half meters in length, while the biggest
Speaker 1: males may reach an impressive seven feet or two meters
Speaker 1: long from nose to tail tip. An average weight is
Speaker 1: around fifteen pounds or four and a half kilos, though
Speaker 1: heavier specimens weighing seventeen pounds or seven and a half
Speaker 1: kilos or more have been documented, and despite its proportions,
Speaker 1: The species has long been a staple in the exotic
Speaker 1: pet trade and unfortunately a victim of abandonment when they
Speaker 1: get too big. That's helped these critters spread far beyond
Speaker 1: their natural range, causing property damage and competition with native wildlife.
Speaker 1: By and large, green iguanas are herbivores. They may eat
Speaker 1: insects or dead meat on occasion, but it's fruits and
Speaker 1: leaves that make up the bulk of their diet. Though too,
Speaker 1: green iguanas vegetation isn't just a food source. This is
Speaker 1: a tree loving animal that, given its druthers, spends most
Speaker 1: of its time basking in forest canopies. Scaling branches comes
Speaker 1: easily to the lizards. With their long fingers and hooked claws.
Speaker 1: These guys are first rate climbers. Of course, you don't
Speaker 1: spend a lifetime in the treetops without taking the occasional spill.
Speaker 1: Green iguanas have been known to withstand fift foot that's
Speaker 1: fifteen meter falls and walk away uninjured. This species is
Speaker 1: also perfectly at home in the water. I'm much like alligators.
Speaker 1: The animals swim by undulating their tails from side to side.
Speaker 1: Frightened iguana might also choose to seek refuge below the
Speaker 1: surface if a predator is lurking about. We are not
Speaker 1: used to thinking of non avian reptiles as sociable, but
Speaker 1: yet the green iguana is somewhat gregarious. Hatchlings are born
Speaker 1: in underground nests, sometimes in the vicinity of crocodilians. Baby
Speaker 1: iguanas stick together, forming social groups with their siblings for
Speaker 1: mutual protection. Such units can last for months, during which
Speaker 1: time the young lizards groom one another and sleep side
Speaker 1: by side or in piles iguana. Iguana is sexually dimorphic,
Speaker 1: with females looking visibly different from their masculine counterparts. Both
Speaker 1: sexes have dew laps, that's folds of loose skin that
Speaker 1: dangle below the neck. These are proportionately larger in males
Speaker 1: and an important communication tool. Come breeding season, a male
Speaker 1: iguana will defend a huge territory and ideally mate with
Speaker 1: a number of females, whom he'll guard for an extended period.
Speaker 1: To scare off rivals, males aggressively bob their heads up
Speaker 1: and down, dew laps flapping all the while. While we're here,
Speaker 1: let's discuss coloration and not all green iguanas are literally
Speaker 1: green They also come in shades of brown, blue, red,
Speaker 1: and gray, and males often turn orange or bronze ish
Speaker 1: when it's time to court potential mates. Today, the green
Speaker 1: iguana remains one of the United states most popular reptilian pets,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean they're easy to care for. Sharing
Speaker 1: your life with an iguana can be deeply rewarding, but
Speaker 1: you should know what you're getting into beforehand. Hatchlings will
Speaker 1: be about eight inches that's twenty centimes long, and might
Speaker 1: fare nicely in a tabletop terrarium, but experienced hobbyists recommend
Speaker 1: that adult enclosures measure at least six ft high by
Speaker 1: x feet wide and twelve feet long in meters that's
Speaker 1: about two by two by three and a half. Before
Speaker 1: it was artificially introduced to new environments, the green iguana
Speaker 1: was restricted to Central and South America, along with a
Speaker 1: smattering of islands in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean. Back
Speaker 1: in at least fifteen of the lizards suddenly appeared on
Speaker 1: a Caribbean island with no pre existing green iguana population.
Speaker 1: The scientists think the reptiles road floating mats of uprooted
Speaker 1: vegetation that drifted out to sea in the wake of
Speaker 1: Hurricanes Luis and Maryland. Presumably the raft bound castaways traveled
Speaker 1: all the way from Guadaloupe, some two hundred miles or
Speaker 1: three kilometers to the south. Unfortunately, when the local climate
Speaker 1: is favorable, iguana iguana can thrive in places where it
Speaker 1: doesn't belong. In nineteen sixty six, the first scientific report
Speaker 1: on invasive iguanas in South Florida was published. It seems
Speaker 1: likely that many individuals reached the Florida and Peninsula by
Speaker 1: going away on boats and in shipping crates. America's booming
Speaker 1: pet industry sure didn't help alone. More than one point
Speaker 1: one four million iguanas were imported into the United States.
Speaker 1: Although it's possible to buy captive bread specimens nowadays, a
Speaker 1: wild cop babies are still being shipped to the US
Speaker 1: and mass It's unclear how many free ranging green iguanas
Speaker 1: are loose in South Florida. More than seven thousand iguana
Speaker 1: sidings have been recorded by the University of Georgia's Early
Speaker 1: Detection and Distribution Mapping system. Since most of those after,
Speaker 1: a large percentage of the lizards now running about the
Speaker 1: state probably descend from escaped or unwanted pets. Ecologists warned
Speaker 1: that the herbivores are devouring important native plants, including a
Speaker 1: coastal vine that the endangered Miami blue butterfly lava feed on.
Speaker 1: Various flowers may also be at risk. A green iguanas
Speaker 1: have been turning private gardens into buffets, and to add
Speaker 1: insult to injury, the Szard's leave feces on patios, boat decks,
Speaker 1: and other surfaces, and metaling iguanas are doing a number
Speaker 1: on Florida's infrastructure too, and just one iguana caused a
Speaker 1: ten minute power outage when it trespassed on a key
Speaker 1: West Electrical facility in two thousand eighteen, and West Palm
Speaker 1: Beach is facing one point eight million dollars in damages
Speaker 1: incurred after tunneling iguanas messed up a local dam. In
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission made
Speaker 1: headlines by encouraging homeowners to humanely kill green iguanas on
Speaker 1: their property whenever possible. One doesn't need a license or
Speaker 1: permit to hunt them on public lands. The several worried
Speaker 1: citizens have also called for Floridians to eat more iguana meat,
Speaker 1: which is a traditional protein in parts of the Caribbean.
Speaker 1: Being cold blooded, iguanas have been unable to establish viable
Speaker 1: populations in northern recesses of the state. Even down south,
Speaker 1: the lizards occasionally fall victim to chili conditions. The animals
Speaker 1: go into paralysis when the thermometer hits forty four degrees
Speaker 1: fahrenheit or six point six celsius, which doesn't happen often
Speaker 1: in South Florida but did in January another cold snap
Speaker 1: in killed off a large part of the iguana population. However,
Speaker 1: once the weather warms again, most adult iguanas can recover
Speaker 1: from this kind of temporary incapacitation. You do will to
Speaker 1: keep your distance. In the meantime, a stirring iguana can
Speaker 1: really bite. Today's episode is based on the article South
Speaker 1: Florida is overrun with green Iguanas on housetuffworks dot com,
Speaker 1: written by Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart
Speaker 1: Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com and
Speaker 1: is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from my
Speaker 1: heart Radio visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.