Iguana invasion in Hialeah, Florida dubbed "Jurassic Park"

Seems they were introduced by the pet trade into the environment, and are flourishing rapidly in the environment. They are also digging huge burrows in the canal banks, which has Water management officials concerned about topsoil stability in the region. Pretty crazy.

cbs4.com...

Nature is never static. Something is always changing, some balance being removed and a new one introduced. Wherever there is a niche, something in nature will fill it if it can.

Only man, with his memory, thinks that everything should remain as it was. It is true that man contributes to the changes, even causes some of them. Still, it is natural for species to take over areas. It happens in the plant world all the time.

To me it seems that the Earth achieves stability by letting things change. The fact that humans were involved in causing this is not a major factor itself. It is the way of the natural world to do these things.

The problem is that man has plans, and he doesn't like having to make new ones just because other life forms want to flourish. Man tries to hold nature still, and that never works.

Haha, it really is Jurassic Park down here..
Alligators are back on the rise, we have
a growing non-native Python population,
and now the Iguanas are on the rise.

Those lil' buggers are ALL OVER SOUTH FLORIDA.
And some ain't so little. They get BIG, and nasty.

I do alot of fishing, and you can't go anywhere
without seeing them runnin' and swimmin' about.
I suppose they spread so fast because most of our
canals, waterways, lakes, etc. are all connected.

This is what we get for living in a swamp.

LOL, aecreate-Is it really that crazy with all different types of reptiles roaming around? I know the gators can get out of control, but had no idea about the snakes and lizards being so overpopulated. Animal control must be overwhelmed with calls.

Well folks, if you knew Hialeah, you'd understand. I lived there for 2 years and if anything is going to grow, or mutate, it would be there.

I can honestly say that is my least favorite place to live.

This iguanas are taking over my Island of Puerto Rico, they Can get pretty large after adulthood.

When I left my I Island back in 81 we didn't have any of these reptiles in PR.

When I went back in 84 still was no reptiles in PR.

After 19 years I went back and could not believe the invasion of this reptiles in PR.

The are all over the roads, backyards and gardens.

They love to eat your vegetable gardens and flowers.

Marg, i remember (not to date myself) sleeping with a mosquito net over all the beds and the little iguanas loose everywhere. That was in Cuba, God, i guess we didnt have screens??? I cant remember, but i do know all about them. They were EVERYWHERE.

Yuck!!!!!

That and the coquis, hello....not for me, thanks.

I'm glad to be in the good old USA where those things are only supposedly in bayous and hialeah


BTW, i hear there are now screens for windows in Cuba.

Yes the littler iguanas we have in the caribean are not the large reptiles that are taking over now.

The ones now are from the philipines and they can grow very large about 6 or seven feet.

They were intruduced by pet shops that sells them as babies but when they get too large people started to let them lose, the weather is ideal for them to reporduce.

In the begining the envoromentalist were not worry about them because they didn't pose a danger to the local species as the regular iguanas that can only grow 6 inches, and other reptiles natural to the Island.

They are vegetarian and they share the enviroment with not problem.

But what they didn't count was the ability for them to trive in the caribean weather.

Now we have in PR laws that allow the people to kill them or eat them.

They are actually tasty and with a chicken meat texture the only problem is that they are so pretty with different colors in their skin that people just do not want to harm them.


[edit on 18-6-2007 by marg6043]

I had no idea they had evolved into little monsters.

Anyway, thank God for screens.

I used to live in Venezuela, and i used to catch massive green iguinas. They are wonderful animals, and i think its cool that they are in Florida now.

Where is this city, i used to live in FLorida as well and i never heard of it

Hialeah is just outside of Miami- its a suburb, i think.

You want to fly thru and not drive thru. :shk:

Its very humors to read how people are more considered with insulting Hialeah, isn’t of the ecological significant that is occurring with this increase in iguana’s. I for one, I am never someone who looks down on the increase growth of any animal. However, what happens when an animal overcomes the natural order of a certain ecological system.