Eurythmics Here Comes the Rain Again Bloghouse
If yous're looking to have a myth debunked, y'all've come to the wrong place. "Frozen Iguanas Falling From Florida Trees" is neither the name of a schlocky B-rated horror flick nor an urban legend. Information technology's something that really happens, which, if you're a Floridian yourself, y'all might exist somewhat familiar with. But the rest of u.s. may just be getting used to the fact that it rains more than cats and dogs in The Sunshine Country. In improver to hurricanes and alligators, there's another form of reptilian precipitation to picket out for.
But just why does this miracle happen? The short answer is that iguanas simply don't belong in Florida; they're not native to the state, and those living there aren't used to the extremes of Florida conditions still. Just there's a longer answer, and it'south a fascinating tale of invasive species, animal physiology and 1 of the strangest conditions reports you'll ever see.
Iguanas Are Cold-Blooded, Which Induces Lethargy
When a fauna is cold-blooded, its trunk temperature changes along with shifts in the ambient temperature that occur in the air around the animal. This lies in dissimilarity to warm-blooded animals, which are able to maintain internal body temperatures higher than those of their environs due to their differing metabolic processes. Snakes, crocodiles, alligators, turtles and lizards, all of which are reptiles, are by and large cold-blooded. When temperatures around them drop, then does their internal temperature. This process also happens to iguanas — even the iguanas that telephone call Florida habitation.
As the temperature in the air — and, thus, the iguanas' claret — drops, they get increasingly inactive. When external temps achieve about 45 degrees Fahrenheit, iguanas exposed to these weather enter a stunned or dormant state. They'll gradually become then sluggish and so immobilized that they may look dead — but aren't. These lethargic lizards are actually even so animate, and all their bodily functions are continuing. Just those functions are taking place much more slowly considering the iguanas' blood is moving around their bodies at a greatly reduced rate.
That said, if it stays in the 40s longer than eight hours, those persistent common cold temperatures can go fatal to iguanas. Only simply how cold does it have to be to trigger lethargic responses? That depends. Ron Magill, Zoo Miami'southward communications director, told CNN, "The temperature threshold for when iguanas begin to become into a fallow state depends greatly on the size of the iguana… Generally speaking, the larger the iguana, the more common cold it tin tolerate for longer periods." That may have to do with the fact that the larger lizards take more blood in their bodies so they can retain warmth in their blood a bit longer than the smaller reptiles.
The Lizards Are Diurnal — and They Have Anarchistic Sleeping Spots
There may non be many things that people and iguanas have in common, but the period of time when they're awake each day is one. Diurnal animals like iguanas are active during daylight hours and inactive at nighttime when they slumber or residuum. Because iguanas are already boring or sleeping at night when temperatures are most likely to attain their lowest points, that'southward when iguanas are most vulnerable to the languor-inducing effects of a common cold snap. The dark temperatures and the cold ambience temperatures compound.
At that place'southward ane more thing about iguanas' diurnal nature to know nigh, though. It's where they tend to sleep that matters — and that leads to "iguana rain." Iguanas typically wander the ground or stay slightly secluded in brushy areas during the twenty-four hour period. Just they then sleep upwardly in the relative safety of tree branches.
A typical slumbering iguana is perfectly capable of remaining safe and secure in a tree until morning. However, when iguanas are rendered lethargic or comatose by common cold temperatures, their immobility causes them to lose their grip on the branches. Iguanas that succumb to the coldest overnight temperatures in Florida simply fall out of bed — and onto the footing to exist found by startled Floridians when the sunday rises.
They're Invasive and Aren't Suited for Florida's Climate
One might remember that iguanas would've evolved to deal with Florida's temperatures without going through this outcome — they're native to rainforests, after all. But fifty-fifty if that were unremarkably the case, there are a few factors working against iguanas in this regard.
First, temperatures depression enough to trigger this effect are pretty uncommon in Florida, so the lizards aren't exposed to these dips often plenty to develop whatever kind of evolutionary response. Low lows happen occasionally — it'south often Jan when they do occur — but Florida temperatures in the 40s are past far the exception rather than the dominion.
While Florida does have a pocket-size number of native iguana species, the vast bulk of these lizards in Florida — including the most common light-green iguana, a species that's helpfully named Iguana iguana — aren't native to Florida at all. They're really invasive, so they haven't adjusted to the land's (very) occasional chilly weather condition.
According to the Florida Fish and Wild fauna Conservation Commission, at that place are over xl non-native iguanas and relatives calling The Sunshine Land domicile. These transplants were introduced to Florida as a upshot of the pet trade. In 1995 lonely, over 800,000 dark-green iguanas were imported into the United States from their native homelands — much warmer countries like Honduras, El salvador, Panama and Colombia. Over time, so many iguanas escaped or were released past pet owners into the wild that they established a presence throughout the state.
No, That Iguana Is (Probably) Not Expressionless
In nearly cases, an iguana that you might find lying on the ground under a tree first matter in the morning isn't dead and won't die from the common cold snap. Rather, information technology'south simply immobilized or comatose due to the cold. As the temperatures increase around the iguana and it's exposed to sunshine, the iguana'due south claret temperature volition increment, too.
Gradually, the iguana will become more than energetic and scamper away. As the Miami Zoo's communications director mentioned, though, very common cold temperatures can impale modest iguanas, but many just milkshake off the cold (and any falls from copse) with the arrival of warmer temperatures and sunshine.
With this in listen, information technology probably won't be so startling next fourth dimension you hear most weather forecasts — yeah, the Miami National Conditions Service has issued them earlier — for raining iguanas in Florida. In addition to having the benefit of this general introduction to the reptile-related implications of cold snaps, though, you can sometimes count on Florida weather forecasters to give you lot all the data you need even if some of it is definitely non information you want. (Check out this story about a Florida weather forecast that went style beyond the probability of precipitation, humidity and expected loftier and low temps.)
So, if you e'er should hear the telltale slap of an iguana hit the basis in the cool temperatures of a Jan Florida night, don't be alarmed. Iguana pelting is normal. Weird, merely normal.
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Source: https://www.reference.com/science/why-rain-iguanas-florida?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740005%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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