This past winter was unseasonably cold in Florida, and the cold lasted much longer than usual. It was welcome relief to me. I’d never experienced such temperatures in twenty years of living here.

Southern Florida is also full of non-native iguanas. They’re visually striking creatures and I’m glad they’re here. We have all kinds and my son is a lover of reptiles, a regular herp freak! For him it’s a treat to see iguanas literally right outside the door. They swim well too.

The cold was extremely hard on the iguana population. They fell out of the trees and died. We were finding carcasses everywhere. So much so that in a specific area where on a single outing we had counted upwards of 80 iguanas of all sizes, and some were huge, after the cold we counted only a handful.

My son who is 11 took the carcasses in stride. We decided it was simply population control. As summer has worn on, we haven’t seen a whole lot yet.

For a couple of previous frames of dressed-to-the-max iguanas see here and here.

The next two images are of the same iguana carcass in black and white. As fierce as they look, they are weary of humans and jump in the water at the first opportunity. Here’s in honor to these unique creatures!

Warning: Not for the squeamish.

Impermanence

(Creature Series)

Impermanence II

© Pamir Kiciman 2010