In Florida, authorities have urged residents not to touch iguanas found lifeless on the street. Once warmed up, they can be brought back to life and attacked.
Animals fall from the sky in the United States. In connection with the polar storm, which continues to cripple the country after killing at least 46 people, some wildlife are freezing to death and falling from the trees they had taken shelter in.
In Florida, lifeless iguanas can be seen on the streets. Plunging temperatures have not spared the Sunshine State either, where cold warnings have been issued for the Christmas weekend.
Central Florida was the coldest. -1°C was recorded overnight in Orlando on Saturday and Sunday, while the average is usually around 15°C.
Cold-Blooded Animals
However, iguanas are cold-blooded animals. If the mercury drops below 10°C, they can freeze. Especially when the sun’s rays are scarce, making it almost impossible to maintain a normal body temperature.
In this situation, the reptiles lose their grip on the branches and fall onto the roadway, especially in strong winds. On social networks, many residents have shared pictures of lifeless iguanas, some of which do not hesitate to pick them up with their bare hands.
Inactive but not dead
Viewing frozen iguanas has almost become a winter tradition in the southern United States. Similar falls were reported last January, during an earlier cold spell.
But the Florida Wildlife and Aquatic Commission warned residents on Facebook. Although frozen, the iguanas are not dead. Once exposed to moderate temperatures, they can come back to life and attack their benefactor.
“No matter what you do, absolutely do not bring wild green iguanas into your home or car to warm them up! They can recover quicker than you think and become menacing using their long tails and teeth and sharp claws,” detailed on Facebook example.
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However, William Kern reminds Newsweek that although some animals are coming back to life, the drop in temperature automatically leads to an increase in reptile mortality.
“The most notable episode is from January 2010. We had a cold snap for a week. And some iguanas didn’t have time to warm up,” he recalls in the magazine’s columns.
Houston bats
Another species that has fallen victim to the drop in temperature over the Atlantic: bats. In Houston, Texas, many of these mammals have been seen completely frozen on the streets. A worrying situation while bats are important to local ecosystems: they feed on pests and mosquitoes.
To try to save her, animal shelter manager Mary Warwick regularly goes near the Waugh Bridge, a spot known for being home to a bat colony in metropolitan Texas, the Chron reports.
With volunteers, she devotes herself to picking up the frozen animals. Once placed in shoeboxes, they are returned to specialized clinics. But with this new cold spell, many fear that Houston, while known for those scorching temperatures, has become too unstable for bats. A situation that would force animals to migrate even further south.
Original article published on BFMTV.com
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