US faces invasion by giant lizards after pets escape from Florida
THE southern states of the US are facing an invasion of 4ft lizards after animals brought to Florida as pets escaped and established a population in the wild, scientists have warned.
South American tegu lizards, which live in two large colonies in Florida, could expand into an area from the Carolinas to Texas, according to the scientific report published on the website for the journal Nature.
“They are voracious, omnivorous predatory lizards that can live in a variety of habitats, but we can’t know what is going to happen or how intense this invasion is going to become until the effects are upon us,” said Lee Fitzgerald, a professor at Texas A&M University and curator of its Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections.
Prof Fitzgerald, a co-author of the study, said this week it could take years for the tegu lizards to reach their potential range, but new hot spots pop up as more pet lizards escape or are dumped in the wild by owners.
There are no current estimates of wild populations of tegus in the US. In South America they range widely east of the Andes.
Armed with strong jaws and tails that they can wield as weapons, in Florida the lizards devour the eggs of American alligators, sea turtles and ground-nesting birds, wildlife officials said. They also have a taste for insects, fruit and birds.
“As far as being a damaging invasive species, it really depends on what the threatened resources are in the areas where you might get tegus,” said Robert Reed, chief of the Invasive Species Science Branch at the US Geological Survey.
Tegu owners describe their pets as calm and occasionally affectionate lizards that like sunning themselves and are not picky about what they eat.
But they can also be tough to handle. In Florida, local wild populations of the lizards are found in at least two counties – Miami-dade and Hillsborough – while there have been sightings in other parts of the state, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
On private land, Florida hunters without a licence are allowed to kill the lizards humanely. On public lands, the state is trapping them.
“The most important thing that the public can do to stop the spread of nonnative species like tegus is to never release non-native animals into the wild,” said Jamie Rager, a commission specialist.