FLORIDA
2009
1 of 2
FLORIDA
2009
1 of 2
Made several trips to Florida this year to visit family and friends. In between other activities, managed to find a
few herps in local parks, as well as during our usual outings to the Big Cypress and Everglades.
The neighborhood where I grew up is now home to iguanas and other exotic lizards.
Here’s an opposite example, a species that seems exotic because it had become so rare, but is actually a native.
Once common throughout South Florida, crocodiles were nearly extirpated, except for a tiny population in a corner of
the Everglades. Now they’re making a comeback, thanks to years of education and conservation.
As a child I never saw a wild crocodile, but now neighbors have a resident croc in the canal behind their house.
Not the best timing for herps, so we spend a lot of time admiring birds.
Green Iguana
Iguana iguana
Brown Basilisk
Basiliscus vittaus
Black Spinytail Iguana
Ctenosaura similis
African Redhead Agama
Agama agama
female (l) and male (r)
© Rodney King
© Rodney King
American Crocodile
Crocodylus acutus
