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Lynne Sladky / AP
Jim Duquesnel holds an iguana he caught in a trap at Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys on Aug. 31, 2011.
The Associated Press reports from BAHIA HONDA KEY, Fla. — For more than a year, Bahia Honda State Park biologist Jim Duquesnel traversed the nature sanctuary with two hopes. He wanted to see a Miami blue butterfly and rid the Florida Keys outpost of as many iguanas as he could.
The reason: The Central American invader may be driving the Miami blue into extinction by eating the leaves where it lays its eggs — a bit of butterfly caviar in every bite.
Paula Cannon / AP
In this undated photo, a Miami blue butterfly is shown at Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last August issued an emergency listing of the Miami blue as an endangered species.
No confirmed Miami blues have been seen on Bahia Honda since July 2010, and with each passing day it becomes less likely any exist there.
Still, Duquesnel has tried to keep hope alive — and eradicate the iguana from his 600-acre park in the Middle Keys.
Perhaps, he says, a half dozen Miami blues survive on some corner of the island, waiting for the right weather to emerge. Read more about his quest to protect them.
- Previously on PhotoBlog: Endangered crocodiles thrive as neighbors of Florida nuclear plant
Lynne Sladky / AP
Jim Duquesnel sets out pieces of fruit to attract iguanas on Aug. 9, 2011. The large, vegetarian lizards, probably the descendants of pets released by their owners when they grew too big or burdensome, have developed a taste for the nickerbean leaves where Miami blues laid their eggs.
Lynne Sladky / AP
Jim Duquesnel and volunteer Larry Benvenuti measure an iguana that was caught in a trap. When Duquesnel was hired in November 2010, he saw 40 or 50 adult iguanas a day in the park. Now he sees just a couple big ones a day, and they're harder to catch because they've adapted to his hunting and trapping.
Leave a Comment:
Please be kind to the iguanas, they are only trying to live their lives too.
Please be kind to the iguana, he wants to live his life too.
I'd rather have iguanas than the constrictors that are running rampant down there. I understand where he's coming from but the igs didn't ask to be there to begin with. Be kind.
Dispose of them humanely, but they are overrunning Florida. They are far from in danger of extinction, unlike many species they are displacing.
Personally, I can't stand them.
I'm amazed at how well iguanas adapt to their new environments. Too bad for the Miami Blues, but iguanas have to eat too.
they need to put bounties on pythons. boas, and iguanas in Florida. Invasive species are a real threat to the ecosystem there.
Will you people never learn?As much as you hate to harm animals,invasive species MUST be held in check.The species is NOT supposed to be here.Evolution hasn't brought it here.MAN has.We are the most profound impact on the planet after natural forces.As much as we've fouled things up,we now are trying to mitigate our impact.Driving out invasive species will help the native species.A once named"rat island' had the rats exterminated so that sea birds might escape becoming endangered.Cats thrive in australia,se asian islands.Zebra mussels,asian carp in the mississippi and so on.We have to be stewards of the earth as it canot take too much of us w/o suffering.Also we don't know enough to determine in all instances which species might be linchpins in their environment
It used to be against the law to import non-indigenous species for the very reason that pythons, iguanas and other species are taking over some areas of Florida, Louisiana, etc and upsetting the ecological balance of the environments. Some of these species are or can be also a danger to humans and domesticated animals as well. I think either federal or state governments need to re-examine these laws. The age of responsible husbandry of wildlife has gone by the wayside. Little pythons become big pythons, little komodos become big komodos, little alligators become big alligators, etc. And at some point they get released into the wild with little consideration for the environment or the survival of the animal itself.
Forget it. It's too late to correct these ecosystem disasters naturally. Humans must conduct hunting on a large scale with bounties. Many of these invasives species need to be converted into marketable products such as food, animal food, leather products, fertilizers and chemicals (natural really, and will decrease use of fossil fuels) for us to have any realistic hope of containing their spread and destruction of native systems. Ironically, humans are really the most invasive and destructive form of life on the planet other than maybe some deadly viruses, which we probably have some role in spreading around as well.
If we can systematically annihilate in excess of 5 million bison on the great plains in a period of probably 20 years, I think we could eliminate 20 or 30,000 boa constrictors in the everglades in much the same way: place a bounty on them, sell them for meat and leather or bait. With today's technology, biologists and chemists (Kodak?) should be able to produce invasive specie pheromones to attract them to specific points for capture. No, we won't get them all at once, but we need to start somewhere and somehow. Let's pray....
Well maybe they should turn you into fertilizer as your an invader on the ecosystem! The Native Americans should round you up and use your suggestion on you. Human have done far more harm than animals. It's human that put these animals in the system, it was humans that killed off all the Buffalo, it was humans that imported all the cattle and now want to finish off killing all the Buffalo.
Since the Globe is warming, Then these species of animals can survive here! Maybe they did before the Ice Age? As there are Iguana's that can swim and make it here naturally. Just like your Ancestors swam here illegally.
Now that article states, that now there's only been a couple of Iguana's sighted and now they are a threat to the Blue Butterfly. Besides, this guy is only assuming that the Iguana's are eating all the eggs.... It may be a natural thinning out of that Butterfly. Maybe something to do with Global Warming? Just because he has a fasination with the Butterfly, he may be blaming the wrong thing for it's disappearance or it just moved elsewhere.. Always wanting to blame someone or something except for themselves. Humans are the problem, not the animals.