Watch Out For Falling Iguanas This Christmas Day

Along with the cold weather that Florida will be experiencing this Christmas Day, weather experts said that falling iguanas are also to be expected. Iguanas are cold-blooded animals and they tend to slow down become immobile when the temperature of their environment drops.

The National Weather Service in Miami warned residents to look out for immobile reptiles that have fallen from the trees, shunned by the low temperatures. South Florida is recording its coldest Christmas Day ever after 21 years, with the last time was in 1999.

Earlier this year, in January, the same scenario happened when falling iguanas were also reported falling unexpectedly due to the cold snap that hit the Sunshine State.

Frozen Iguanas Falling From the Trees

The residents are reminded by weather experts that although these falling lizards may be immobile, they might feel threatened and attack once they wake up from their frozen slumber, MailOnline reported.

Kristen Sommers, who oversees the nonnative fish and wildlife program for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said that the falling iguanas must not be assumed dead. She found one immobile iguana in her home and bravely carried it to a grassy area as shown in her video posted on her Twitter account. The iguana quickly scattered away once it woke up.

"At about 50 degrees, iguanas can become lethargic," WSLS-TV meteorologist Chris Michaels said. "It's when the temperature drops to about 40 degrees or lower that their blood doesn't move around as quickly. As a result, they can stiffen up and fall out of the trees in which they frequent."

Chicken Meat of the Trees

The falling iguanas in Florida are the green iguanas that are invasive species to the region because they eat through landscaping and digging burrows that undermine the construction, according to USA Today.

Green iguanas are commonly seen in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. But they arrived in South Florida in the past because they were regarded as pets, according to a report by WFLA-TV. But they were either released intentionally by their owners or escaped and found their new homes then multiplied t thousands.

The residents have nicknamed the green iguanas the "chicken meat" of the trees earlier this year and sold the meat online for $1 per piece, according to MailOnline. The green iguanas were skinned butchered, and headless when sold online. Some people also sell the iguanas with still the skin on, for those chefs who wanted a more hands-on approach with their food.

Even the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences has released a list of recipes for cooking the iguanas, such as the iguana tacos. Wildlife Ecology professor Frank Mazzotti said that the meat of the iguanas are delicious and are a great source of food.

But he also advised newbies to get their iguana meat from a reputable supplier and that it should be treated like chicken, cooked under 165 degrees to prevent the risk of salmonella.

Check out more news and information on Lizards on Science Times.