Biologists worry that reptile could tip ecological balance

chron ^ | May 11, 2010, | MARTIN E. COMAS

[JoeProBono]

OCALA, Fla. — As if the latest reports of Burmese pythons, monitor lizards and Cuban tree frogs crawling around Florida are not enough to creep you out, there's a scary new invader in town. It's an exotic lizard called a tegu, a 4-foot-long reptile from Argentina with sharp claws and a voracious appetite for meat that could possibly tip the ecological applecart. One was spotted last week in Ocala National Forest, a place teeming with campers, swimmers and hikers.

[JoeProBono]

[highlander_UW]

Just publish a cookbook featuring the lizard and put the word out that the meat is an aphrodisiac.

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[highlander_UW]

Or you could see if Hollywood could start up making those old style dinosaur movies where they taped ridges to lizards again. And then have Hollywood lizard wranglers round up the lizards.

[ottbmare]

That’s not even cute! Why would anyone want one?

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[edh]

“That’s not even cute! Why would anyone want one?”

I’d personally love to have one this afternoon. I would kill to see my wife’s reaction if she saw this animal on the living room floor when she gets home. If this thing freaks me out just a bit, I couldn’t imagine the look on her face if she saw one of these :-)!

[trisham]

These people are nuts. Imho.

[highlander_UW]

That’s the ticket! Hollywood will remove all those pesky lizards in no time.

[JoeProBono]

[Kenny Bunk]

That babe in your archival photo would have no trouble with any lizard in any lounge in this country. However, the young Victor Mature look-alike has got by far the better leg!

[TribalPrincess2U]

That’s cold. lol

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Forest officials said the black-and-white critter was likely dropped off in the forest by an overwhelmed pet owner.

“We're taking this very seriously,” said Carrie Sekerak, a forest-wildlife biologist. “A tegu is known to go inside gopher-tortoise burrows and dig out mice and tortoise eggs. ... It can tip the balance suddenly.”

Start a fire in a national forest and you'll be held liable for all of the damages if the forensic experts can catch you. Irresponsible pet owners who insist on turning exotic pets loose in the US should also be held accountable for every penny of the resulting costs - either that or require all exotic pets to be sterilized before being sold.

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[trisham]

LOL!

[Nik Naym]

[JoeProBono]