NYT article -- giant meat-eating lizards in South Florida.
(By the way, Cape Coral is quite close to where I live !)
Jon.
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July 18, 2003
Fla. Scientists Try to Trap Giant Lizards
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:03 p.m. ET
CAPE CORAL, Fla. (AP) -- Biologists in southwest Florida
have set out to trap a species of giant, carnivorous
lizards normally native to Africa that appear to be
spreading through the region.
Cape Coral has become a haven for Nile monitor lizards, and
their population in the Gulf Coast city has possibly
reached the thousands, said Todd Campbell, a University of
Tampa assistant professor of biology who has started a
project to monitor the monitors. Options being studied
include relocating or killing the animals.
The first official report of a monitor lizard in Cape Coral
was in 1990. Since then, Cape Coral has received 145
reports.
Nile monitor lizards, which can easily grow to 5 feet,
might have become established in Cape Coral in one of two
ways, Campbell said. Some may have been released into the
wild after being kept as pets, or the roaming lizards might
all be descendants of a single pregnant female who was
released.
Campbell and his assistants, working with state and federal
grants, are trying to learn whether monitor lizards have
become a threat to native species. The animals can hunt
prey in the water, in trees and even underground.
``They likely eat anything they can fit in their mouths,''
said Gregg Klowden, a University of Florida biologist
working on the project. ``In my opinion, burrowing owls are
like popcorn snacks for them.''
In Africa, the lizards eat crocodile eggs, fish, mussels
and snails.
``They certainly wouldn't have any problem with baby
alligators,'' Campbell said, adding: ``These things eat
oysters, so to crunch a gopher tortoise shell would be
nothing. They probably eat armadillos, foxes, ground doves,
reptiles, amphibians. There's one story of a lady finding a
hatchling monitor eating goldfish out of her pond.''
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company. |
