Out cold: unseasonal temperatures litter south Florida with stunned iguanas

The weather forecast warned it would be raining reptiles and Floridians recorded encounters with lizards feeling the chill

Lauren Aratani in New York

Wed 22 Jan 2020 23.19 GMTLast modified on Thu 23 Jan 2020 02.22 GMT

It truly was the night (and day) of the iguana.

After the National Weather Service (NWS) sent an unusual alert to south Florida residents on Tuesday night warning them of possible “falling iguanas” in light of unseasonably low temperatures, residents were indeed treated to a show of rigid reptiles out of the sky (or, actually, the trees).

The not-so-small creatures were seen motionless in the middle of sidewalks and backyards. While they looked dead, they were actually just too cold to move. Iguanas start becoming sluggish when temperatures drop below 50F (10C) and are susceptible to freezing once temperatures drop to around 40F (4.5C). When frozen, they easily fall out of the trees they call home, appearing lifeless even though they aren’t dead.

Floridians shared videos of the phenomenon, giving Twitter an up-close look at the green-scaled reptiles that are probably dreaming of warmer climates, or at least spring.

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Man Dies After Winning Roach-Eating Contest

The winner of a cockroach-eating contest in South Florida died shortly after downing dozens of the live bugs as well as worms.

About 30 contestants ate the insects during Friday night's contest at Ben Siegel Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach, about 40 miles north of Miami. The grand prize was a python.

Edward Archbold, 32, became ill shortly after the competition ended and collapsed in front of the shop, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office statement released on Monday.

He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. Authorities are waiting for results of a post-mortem to determine a cause of death.

"Unless the roaches were contaminated with some bacteria or other pathogens, I don't think that cockroaches would be unsafe to eat," said Michael Adams, professor of entomology at the University of California.

"Some people do have allergies to roaches but there are no toxins in roaches or related insects."

None of the other contestants became ill, the sheriff's office said.

Continued:  http://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-dies-winning-roach-eating-contest-001751492.html

Crocodile numbers grow in South Florida

Fishing in a canal outside Homestead Bayfront Park not long ago, Ed Castleberry fought hard to catch the biggest jack he’d ever hooked. But something else also wanted his 15-pound trophy, something lurking beneath the murky surface.

As the retired Miami-Dade firefighter reached down to land the fish, a dark shadow passed under it, instantly followed by an explosion of water and the scream of his reel as line zinged out.

An American crocodile at least 12 feet long had grabbed the jack. Ten minutes later, the croc surfaced, crunching the fish between toothy jaws, then gulping it down. It was like a scene fromJurassic Park, Castleberry joked.

“I’m just glad it wasn’t my hand,’’ he said.

Castleberry’s uncomfortably close call a few months ago was just one of an increasing number of croc encounters across South Florida. Last month in Key Largo, a 10-footer in a canal killed a 65-pound dog named Roxie. And last summer, crocs cruised into the canals of upscale Gables-By-The-Sea along Biscayne Bay, prompting the worried community association to add a “crocodile watch’’ to the crime and traffic watches on its website.

The American crocodile, or Crocodylus acutus, a salt-water species once reduced to a few hundred reclusive reptiles hidden among the mangroves of the deep Everglades, remains a rare creature.

Continued:  http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/09/4400330/crocodile-numbers-grow-in-south.html

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Rosie O'Donnell vs. the hammerhead

Rosie O'Donnell and her family caught huge hammerhead sharks in fishing trips off the South Florida coast.

Now the TV personality is catching abuse from environmentalists, irate at the killing of ocean predators that are considered overfished around the globe. Florida banned killing them Jan. 1, long after O'Donnell's fishing trips.

Mark "The Shark" Quartiano, the famous Miami Beach shark fishermen who guided the expeditions, recently posted a photo of O'Donnell next to a dead hammerhead on his web site as "This Month's Celebrity Angler." Since then, as other photos of O'Donnell shark-killing expeditions surfaced, environmentalists have attacked her via Facebook and Twitter accounts, accusing her of going after species that are struggling to survive.

"Right now sharks are the most endangered animals around," said Erik Brush, a Sarasota marine conservationist who helped start the campaign against O'Donnell. "This is basically an endorsement. It sends the message that it's an OK activity. And this is not an activity that we want celebrities endorsing."

O'Donnell's publicist did not respond to requests for comment.

Quartiano defended the trips, which took place over the past two or three years, calling O'Donnell "a great angler. She's very conservation-minded. We've caught a lot of fish and released a lot of fish. We've also caught fish for eating and trophies."

As for O'Donnell's reaction to the controversy, he said "She's amused by it. She wants me to go on her show."

He defended killing hammerheads, saying the few caught for sport were dwarfed by the huge numbers taken by commercial fishing fleets. "These conservation guys are hitting the wrong target," he said.

No one accuses O'Donnell of doing anything illegal. But they say a celebrity known for her philanthropic work, particularly for children, should have been aware of the conservation implications of her actions.

Samantha Whitcraft, conservation biologist with the non-profit group Shark Savers, said she contacted O'Donnell through Twitter, offering a calm, non-confrontational discussion.

"She emailed, What do you propose?" Whitcraft said. "I said I'd take to her to a shark research lab, to which I thought her response would be Hell, yeah, but I never heard anything back. To be fair, I think by the time I had reached her she had been unbelievably harassed. I saw her Twitter page and a lot of overly aggressive hazing."

Continued: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/fl-rosie-shark-20120110%2c0%2c1364900.story