Thursday, January 14, 2010

Speaking of invasive species

In Florida, iguanas and non-native snakes are raining from the sky.

"A lot of these invasive exotics come from southern climates, and they won’t be able to withstand a cold spell for this long,” said Linda Friar, a spokeswoman for Everglades National Park. “And as they die off, the native species, the alligators and birds, are happily consuming them."
It would be neat if mother nature took care of a few invasives, but I think it's more likely that this will leave the most hardy ones to reproduce.

I can't help being a little sad about the iguanas. I've worked with them before and I'm a huge fan. I wouldn't mind having one as a pet some day. They're a bit like scaly cats; intelligent, aloof, but they can show affection and they seem to like attention.

missing the straw hat

2 comments:

Retrieverman said...

Another invasive species in Florida!

And it's another large constrictor!

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-super-snake15-2010jan15,0,6729623.story?track=rss

Retrieverman said...

A green anaconda was captured in the Everglades, but I'm not worried about that species:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6991754.ece