In Florida, night of the falling iguanas is chilling
On Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service in Miami issued an unusual warning about cold-stunned iguanas falling from trees across South Florida.
Sure enough, on Wednesday morning, reports appeared of the reptiles lying on the ground:
“Verification of the @Nwsmiami warning,” tweeted NOAA meteorologist Eric Blake, who included a photo of a stunned lizard on Virginia Key, Florida. “That boy ain’t going nowhere ... young one couldn’t take it (might be dead).”
Another photo of an iguana lying on the ground was taken in Oakland Park, Florida.
This has prompted a sale of iguana meat, dubbed “chicken of the trees,” which started showing up on Facebook
Marketplace overnight in South Florida, the Miami Herald reported.
“Mango season may be months away, but if you live in South Florida today, your trees may be ripe for the picking – of iguanas,” said the Herald story, whose headline began, “Tacos, anyone?”
The temperature in Miami was a nippy-for-florida 40 degrees Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service, with a wind chill in the mid-30s. That’s the coldest Miami has been in more than nine years, the Weather Channel said.
As for the iguanas, the cold stunned but didn’t necessarily kill them.
“Iguanas are cold-blooded. They slow down or become immobile when temps drop into the 40s. They may fall from trees, but they are not dead,” the weather service said.
Iguanas can be kept as pets in Florida.