Cold Snap Causes Frozen Iguana Shower
POSTED: 5:44 pm EST January 3, 2008
UPDATED: 6:21 pm EST January 3, 2008
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Wednesday night's bitter cold temperatures rattled tree-dwelling iguanas in South Florida.The large green reptiles drop out of the trees and litter the ground when temperatures drop in sunny South Florida.The lizards are not dead. Most of them are alive and are simply cold. When the weather returns to the warmth they know and love, they will spring back to life.
"It is as if they are in suspended animation," said Robert Yero, park manager at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne.At Bill Baggs park on Thursday, it was raining iguanas.The critters could be found underneath buttonwood trees and beneath a sea grape."We have found dozens on the bike path after a major cold snap,'' said Yero. "When they warm up in the sun, they come back to life.''The iguanas are exotics from Central and South America. Most of them were house pets at one point, and then released into the wild by their owners when they got too big.In their new home in the wild of South Florida, they feed on vegetation.''They really are taking over,'' Yero said.
POSTED: 5:44 pm EST January 3, 2008
UPDATED: 6:21 pm EST January 3, 2008
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Wednesday night's bitter cold temperatures rattled tree-dwelling iguanas in South Florida.The large green reptiles drop out of the trees and litter the ground when temperatures drop in sunny South Florida.The lizards are not dead. Most of them are alive and are simply cold. When the weather returns to the warmth they know and love, they will spring back to life.
"It is as if they are in suspended animation," said Robert Yero, park manager at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne.At Bill Baggs park on Thursday, it was raining iguanas.The critters could be found underneath buttonwood trees and beneath a sea grape."We have found dozens on the bike path after a major cold snap,'' said Yero. "When they warm up in the sun, they come back to life.''The iguanas are exotics from Central and South America. Most of them were house pets at one point, and then released into the wild by their owners when they got too big.In their new home in the wild of South Florida, they feed on vegetation.''They really are taking over,'' Yero said.
