No, Those Iguanas Aren't Dead

They shut down, fall out of trees in chill, but will revive

By Will McCahill, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 6, 2010 9:37 PM CST

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No, Those Iguanas Aren't Dead — A stunned iguana lies on the sidewalk after falling from a tree today in Surfside, Fla. (AP Photo)

No, those iguanas plummeting out of trees all over Florida haven’t been killed by the unusual cold, nor are they suicidal over it. In fact, a Miami zoologist tells WPLG-TV, the lizards’ bodies basically turn off when temps dip below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and they hibernate until things get closer to their preferred 80 degrees.

And while sidewalks full of iguanas may bring temptation to cull the non-native species a bit, beware, Ron Magill adds: “I knew of a gentleman who was collecting them off the street and throwing them in the back of his station wagon, and all of a sudden these things are coming alive, crawling on his back and almost caused a wreck.”
(More iguana stories.)

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