Digging deep to save Florida’s manatees

Increased depth of water by up to 3ft

February 2012: Manatees are returning to Florida's Fanning Springs after work to restore the waters to its historic depths.

The theory had been that by increasing depths, more manatees would be able to use the area of the Suwannee River - and as work progressed the theory quickly proved true.

‘As the project was going on, more and more manatees were showing up at Fanning Springs. We went from two to four manatees to eight or 12,' said Ron Mezich, who works on manatees and aquatic habitat at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). ‘For manatees in wintertime, it is a warm-water refuge.'

Underwater cleaning carried out by handFrom early November 2011 through early January 2012, underwater cleaning of the springs was carried out by a scuba diver holding a hand-held device similar to a giant vacuum cleaner. Hand cleaning was the preferred method as it minimizes any disturbance to the springs' waters and gives the opportunity to preserve any artifacts found in the removed sediment.

Park staff and volunteers sifted through more than 500 cubic yards of removed sediment and found boards and an ash rake from a former sawmill on the site, as well as coins, including a liberty half-dollar and buffalo nickel.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/manatee-sediment.html

Lyons: Rare bird alerts draw tourists, too

Not everyone will drop what they're doing and jump into the car at this news, but here it is:

If you're in the Herald-Tribune circulation area, you are a short drive from a really good chance to see a rare fork-tailed flycatcher.

Yes, a fork-tailed flycatcher.

Most people are now thinking: "A what?" But not all. Some are thinking: "Wow, usually I'd have to go to Central America to have a good chance of spotting that species. I could add it to my list! I'm there."

Actually, most people in the latter group — serious bird-lovers, that is — already know that an apparently off-course member of that species with an overly long forked tail has been seen almost daily for the past few weeks, hanging around near a Ruskin strawberry farm.

An irritated farmer has been shooing birders away to keep them from trampling his crop into jam, but most birders have been able to focus their binoculars on the flycatcher without trespassing.

I mention all this because it seems there is money in birding. Birders who flock and migrate every year to look at birds, especially special attractions like the aforementioned flycatcher, spend money like any eco-tourist.

If you saw "The Big Year," or happen to know some birding fanatics like those in the film, you already know there is a subspecies of human being that will go to great lengths, and spend big bucks, to see a bird they have never seen before. Or maybe just one they haven't seen lately.

continued: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20120215/COLUMNIST/120219669/-1/news?Title=Lyons-Rare-bird-alerts-draw-tourists-too

THE MYSTERY MONKEY OF TAMPA BAY

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A monkey that has eluded capture for nearly two years has seemingly put down roots in a family's backyard.

The Tampa Bay Times (http://bit.ly/AhT6Ol) reports that the rhesus macaque monkey lives in the backyard of a secluded Pinellas County home of a retired couple, their elderly mother and an aging cat named Koko. The family feeds the monkey and the animal is calm and friendly.
The newspaper saw the primate but is not revealing his location.

In 2009, he became known as the Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay, after traveling from Pasco County to Clearwater and eventually Pinellas County. He was shot repeatedly by trappers' dart guns and featured on Comedy Central. A Nashville country duo wrote a song about him. He has more than 82,000 fans on Facebook.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/11/2635990/mystery-monkey-of-tampa-bay-puts.html#storylink=cpy

Florida: Davie couple say black panther has been prowling around their yard (via Chad Arment)

Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel
January 21, 2012

DAVIE —

A wild cat a Davie couple say they spotted in their backyard more than a week ago has some residents on edge.

Local trapper Robert Leach has set up a cage on the property, hoping to capture the animal. 

Mayor Judy Paul suspects it may be a bobcat, not a black panther as reported by the resident.

"Call it what you want," said Sheldon Friedberg, who called police on Jan. 14 after his wife spotted what she called a black panther pawing at her cat. 

Friedberg said his wife went outside that night to shoo away what she thought was a black dog.

"It wasn't a dog," said Friedberg, who lives in the 6100 block of Southwest 56th Street, northeast of Stirling and Davie Roads. "It had 4-inch fangs. And it's not a bobcat. When it opened its mouth it's like something you see in the movies."

Friedberg said the family cat survived the attack.

He and his wife had seen the animal before, but thought it was a neighbor's oversized cat, he said.

His wife, who appeared recently on a TV news report on WSVN-Ch. 7, declined to comment.

"I can tell you this," Friedberg said. "It's a gigantic cat. It's out there. They still haven't caught it."

Mark McCarthy, who runs a wildlife sanctuary in The Acreage in Palm Beach County, said he doubts the animal that the Friedbergs say is prowling around their property is a black panther.

"A lot of people don't know one cat from another," he said. "People call and tell me they hit a jaguar and I go out and it's a bobcat. Maybe it was a bobcat or cougar and it got in the mud."

The mayor also had doubts.

"We've got bobcats and they're sometimes dark," Paul said. "We have had coyote sightings out west. Where would a black panther have come from?"

Davie Police Capt. Dale Engle had this advice for anyone who spots the animal: Call 911.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/fl-panther-davie-folo-20120121,0,1729294.story

Bill Nelson's effort to ban interstate python trade (Via Herp Digest)

Bill Nelson's effort to ban interstate python trade concerns Fla. wildlife officials
By Christine Stapleton Palm Beach Post- November 26, 2011

WEST PALM BEACH-
The good intentions of Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson to help control the invasion of Burmese pythons in the Everglades has Florida wildlife officials slightly cringing.

Nelson sent a single-page letter to President Obama on Thursday urging him to speed up the process for including the Burmese python and five other pythons roaming around South Florida on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's list of injurious species. That would trigger a ban on the import and interstate trade of the giant constrictors.

"These dangerous snakes have killed people including an innocent child, devoured endangered species and most recently, a Burmese python consumed a 76-pound adult deer," Nelson wrote in the letter. "Further delay is unacceptable and the consequences could be fatal."

While wildlife officials are all for eradicating the wild snakes, they say the unintended consequences of banning the import and interstate trade could lead to even more of the snakes being dumped in the wild by shady dealers stuck with an inventory of worthless snakes.

"We certainly have a concern, in the event they are put on the injurious list, of what would happen to the inventory of the commercial guys," said Scott Hardin, exotic species coordinator at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "We have seen cases when animals go on the injurious list and then all of a sudden you find them in the wrong place."

Last year Florida dealers and breeders lost much of their in-state business when it became illegal to acquire the six species of pythons as pets after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission listed them as a conditional species.

Floridians who already owned pet pythons could keep them, but only reptile dealers, researchers and public exhibitors could apply for a permit to import or possess new pythons.

If pythons are further regulated and placed on the federal injurious species list, commercial dealers and breeders will not be able to sell and ship their snakes to buyers in other states, leaving them to figure out how to dispose of their pythons.

While most dealers are "trying to do the right thing," and would not release their snakes in the wild, "it certainly could happen with some of the marginal dealers," Hardin said.

David Barkasy and his wife, Katie Barkasy, are license dealers who have been selling reptiles for more than 20 years. Although the Barkasys do not breed pythons, they said their business ReptilesToGo.com in Myakka City would take at least a 10 percent hit if they cannot buy, sell and ship pythons out of Florida.

"Nationwide this is going to affect a lot of people," Barkasy said. "It's going to have a big impact."

As for dealers' inventory of pythons, if the injurious designation goes into effect, some will let them go in the wild and others will kill them, Barkasy said.

The FWC has no plans for getting rid of the dealers' unwanted snakes. The fate of the pythons "wouldn't be within our purview necessarily," Hardin said.

However, the commission does host non-native pet amnesty days, which allow pet owners to surrender their non-native amphibians, birds, fish, mammals, invertebrates and reptiles at specific locations throughout the state at no charge and with no penalties.

Since the first pythons were spotted in the wild in Florida in the 1980s, captures, hunting and escapes have grabbed headlines around the world. Although the exact number of pythons in the wild is not known, the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated between 5,000 and 100,000 in the Everglades.

The South Florida Water Management District petitioned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to include the Burmese python as an injurious wildlife species in June 2006. As the district waited for approval, the number of pythons captured rose dramatically, from 170 in 2006 to 367 in 2009.

The district's petition went to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which held public hearings and developed a draft rule. The draft rule went to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, where it has sat for nearly nine months.

"In total, the rule-making process has taken almost five years and in that time, over 100,000 more giant constrictor snakes have entered the U.S.," Nelson wrote. "And until these animals are listed as injurious, they will continue to flow into the country unabated."

But the injurious listing could also encourage smuggling and illegal sales.

"A well-regulated trade is preferable to a black market," Hardin said. "We hope we can have conservation with flexibility and that it is equitable."

Are efforts to get rid of the snakes working? Hardin believes freezing temperatures earlier this year killed many snakes.

The more aggressive African Rock python is nearly 95 percent eradicated, he said.

"There are fewer pythons than there were three years ago," Hardin said. "I think we really have gotten better about knowing where to look."

Florida looks to ease alligator hunting law (Via Herp Digest)

Florida looks to ease alligator hunting law
By David Fleshler
Sun-Sentinel Staff Writer, Monday, Nov. 28, 2011

A generation after Florida reopened alligator hunting, state wildlife managers plan their first review ever of the law that has allowed thousands to pursue the state's most famous reptile with gaffs, bangsticks and harpoons.

Alligator hunting resumed in 1988, after this former endangered species rebounded so vigorously that it was showing up in backyards, parking lots and playgrounds. The number of alligators killed - and transformed into gator nuggets, shoes and wallets - rose steadily as quotas expanded, from 2,551 in 2000 to 7,736 last year.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, at its most recent meeting, authorized its staff to begin working on a package of amendments to the alligator hunting law to be presented to the state Legislature. Harry Dutton, coordinator of the alligator management program, said the review may simply streamline a statute that was probably overloaded with rules because of the sensitivity of hunting a former endangered species.

"It was a time when the alligator was just considered fully recovered and there was a lot of concern," he said. "It's been 23 years now. It's probably long overdue."


Charles Lee, advocacy director for Audubon of Florida, said the alligator appears to have stood up well. But he said the population remains too low in some regions, including possibly the Everglades.
And he said the tendency of hunters to go for trophy prey has deprived many parts of the state of the huge, decades-old alligators that had been a part of Florida's natural heritage.

"They are an iconic feature of the natural landscape, so I lament the areas I go to where these big, grandfather alligators have been snuffed out," he said. "They're pretty rare these days, and I think hunters had something to do with that."

Under the current hunting program, the state establishes quotas for different lakes, rivers and regions to prevent excessive hunting in particular areas.

A drawing is held for permits, with more than 6,000 issued for the statewide hunt that ran from Aug. 15 through Nov. 1. Each permit holder may kill up to two alligators.

The hunt is tightly controlled, with tags and forms required for each kill.

Al Hernandez, a Dania Beach electrical contractor who has been hunting alligators for about 12 years, said the state's hunting program appears to have made little dent in alligator populations.
"When I go up the Kissimmee River I see easily 100 gators," he said. "On Lake Okeechobee some nights I see 50 or 60."

Hernandez hunts after midnight, when the alligators are hunting. On one occasion, he encountered a 10-footer consuming a smaller alligator. "You could hear the crunching of the bones," he said.
On a recent hunt on Lake Okeechobee, he saw a nine-footer head out to hunt. He brought his boat behind the gator, and when it turned he snagged it with a hook, used a bangstick to fire a shotgun charge into its brain and - just to be safe - severed its spine at the neck.

He takes his gators to a processing plant that yields gator cubes, which he deep fries with Cajun seasoning.

There are about 1.3 million alligators in Florida swamps, rivers and lakes, with the number fairly stable over the past few years, Dutton said.

Nuisance alligator complaints are up sharply over the past 20 years - from 11,965 in 1991 to 14,418 last year - although they're down from their peak of 18,307 in 2006.

Dutton said the review may result in the removal of extra rules that aren't applied to game animals such as deer. For example, the review may remove the rule requiring minors hunting with a parent to have a separate license, he said. And it may remove the lifetime ban imposed on anyone with a poaching violation.

But he said the review was unlikely to result in an increase or decrease in hunting.

The review will begin with internal staff work as well as public outreach sessions. The aim is to bring proposals late next year to the wildlife commission, a seven-member board appointed by the governor. If the commission approves the proposals, they would go to the state Legislature in 2014.

Giant Alien Snails Attack Miami, Though They're Not in Much of a Rush

MIAMI—Floridians have grown accustomed to invasions of exotic creatures, like the Burmese pythons slithering throughout the Everglades. But residents here are especially grossed out by the latest arrivals: giant African land snails that grow as long as eight inches, chew through plants, plaster and stucco, and sometimes carry a parasite that can infect humans with a nonlethal strain of meningitis.

The gastropods are among the most dangerous in the world, agriculture officials say. They each have male and female reproductive organs and can lay 1,200 eggs a year, allowing them to proliferate rapidly. Thousands of them have infested at least five separate neighborhoods in the Miami area.

Homeowners who discover the creatures in their yards often find them disgusting. The snails' engorged bodies extend far from their shells, and they eat so ravenously that they leave trails of excrement on walls and the ground.

Read on...
By ARIAN CAMPO-FLORES

Invasive Amphibians, Reptiles in Florida Outnumber World, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Sep. 15, 2011) — Florida has the world's worst invasive amphibian and reptile problem, and a new 20-year study led by a University of Florida researcher verifies the pet trade as the No. 1 cause of the species' introductions.

From 1863 through 2010, 137 non-native amphibian and reptile species were introduced to Florida, with about 25 percent of those traced to one animal importer. The findings appear online September 15 in Zootaxa.

"Most people in Florida don't realize when they see an animal if it's native or non-native and unfortunately, quite a few of them don't belong here and can cause harm," said lead author Kenneth Krysko, herpetology collection manager at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus.

"No other area in the world has a problem like we do, and today's laws simply cannot be enforced to stop current trends."

Florida law prohibits the release of non-native species without a state permit, but offenders cannot be prosecuted unless they are caught in the act. To date, no one in Florida has been prosecuted for the establishment of a non-indigenous animal. Researchers urge lawmakers to create enforceable policies before more species reproduce and become established. The study names 56 established species: 43 lizards, five snakes, four turtles, three frogs and a caiman, a close relative of the American alligator.

"The invasion of lizards is pretty drastic considering we only have 16 native species," Krysko said. "Lizards can cause just as much damage as a python. They are quicker than snakes, can travel far, and are always moving around looking for the next meal."

Defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as organisms "whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health," invasive species are a growing concern for residents and policymakers. Only three species were intercepted before reaching the wild and researchers documented 137 introductions. The study also shows no established, non-native amphibian or reptile species has been eradicated.

Floridians have experienced some of the damage these animals can cause, from iguanas that destroy cement walls to Burmese pythons released in the Everglades that eat protected species. While the impact of many of the introduced species has not been determined, the study provides new information about how, why and when they entered the state.

The first introduction in 1863 was of the greenhouse frog, native to the West Indies. One of the most easily recognized species is the brown anole, the first introduced lizard, which reached Florida from Cuba via cargo ships in 1887. Until about 1940, nearly all non-native species arrived through this accidental cargo pathway, but the boom in popularity of exotic terrarium animals in the 1970s and 1980s led to the pet trade being accountable for 84 percent of the introductions, Krysko said.

"It's like some mad scientist has thrown these species together from all around the world and said, 'hey let's put them all together and see what happens,' " Krysko said. "It could take decades before we actually know the long-term effects these species will have."

Other pathways include biological control, in which an animal is intentionally released to control a pest species, and accidental introduction through the zoo or plant trade. The study will serve as a baseline for establishing effective policies for control or eradication, said Fred Kraus, a vertebrate biologist at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu who helped establish policies for invasive amphibians and reptiles in Hawaii.

"This paper by Kenney and company I think is a good example of the approach that needs to be taken, providing the detail and being rather cautious in making immediate claims that things are established until there is evidence for it," Kraus said. "There is a lot more work going on now, but for years it was just ignored. For years, climate change was ignored, too. You know, humans just tend to ignore bad news until you can't ignore it anymore."

One of the greatest obstacles pet owners face is how to feed and house an exotic animal that has become too large or difficult to handle, Krysko said.

"The biggest example is the Burmese python," Krysko said. "It's a large constrictor and has definitely shown impact on native species, some you just can't even find anymore."

The study uses fieldwork data from 12 co-authors throughout the state and research primarily using specimens in the Florida Museum of Natural History collections.

"This is a global problem and to think Florida is an exception to the rule is silly," Krysko said. "The Fish and Wildlife Commission can't do it alone -- they need help and we have to have partners in this with every agency and the general public. Everyone has to be on board; it's a very serious issue."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110915131604.htm

Woman, 90, savaged by alligator

An alligator has attacked and severely injured a 90-year-old woman in south-west Florida.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Margaret Webb was walking near her home in Copeland when the 8ft alligator lunged out of a canal.

Officials say the animal tried to drag Ms Webb into the water, but she was able to hang on long enough for a man driving by to stop and help her.

Ms Webb, who lost part of her leg in the attack, was airlifted to a Fort Myers trauma centre.

The agency said a trapper was sent to the area to find the alligator.

If found, the reptile will be cut open in an attempt to retrieve and reattach the leg.

http://news.uk.msn.com/world/woman-90-savaged-by-alligator-22

Sea Turtle Andre Dead, Three Weeks After Florida Release (Via HerpDigest)

Sea Turtle Andre Dead, Three Weeks After Florida Release

Posted by Kristeen Moore on August 27, 2011 11:04 AM



Sea turtle Andre was found dead on Wednesday, which was only three weeks after a team released the rehabilitated loggerhead back into the ocean, according to the Associated Press. Florida-based Loggerhead Marinelife Center had rescued Andre last June and rehabilitated the turtle before his release earlier this month.



Andre was located on Hutchinson Island, and was identified by a tag that the Center had placed on him prior to his release. David McClymont, president of the Loggerhead Marinelife Center told the Associated Press that the sea turtle was in such bad condition, that their staff could not determine the cause of death.



The green sea turtle was originally rescued by the Center on June 15, 2010, where he was found stranded on a sandbar. According to the Associated Press, two holes in Andre's shell from boat accidents resulted in the sea turtle carrying around three pounds of sand in his body, as well as a few crabs. Andre also suffered a collapsed lung, pneumonia, an exposed spine and an infection.

Veterinarians with the Loggerhead Marinelife Center recognized that the turtle had good neurological function, an indication that he could be rehabilitated. His rehabilitation marked new advancements in the search and rescue of subsequent sea turtles.



Andre was 177 pounds and approximately 25-years-old upon his release, according to the Associated Press.



Sea turtles are an endangered species. It is currently nesting season along the coasts of Florida. Hurricane Irene is thought to have disrupted the nests of some sea turtles along Florida's east coast.

Chessie (the manatee) returns to Chesapeake Bay (via Chad Arment)

Famous Manatee Sighted in Chesapeake Bay After Long Absence

Gainesville, Fla. – A manatee spotted this week in Calvert County, Maryland is the same one that first made waves 17 years ago when he appeared in Chesapeake Bay just before the onset of winter and later had to be rescued.


Named "Chessie," the manatee's identity was verified by U.S. Geological Survey biologist Cathy Beck, who used photos taken July 12 and matched them with Chessie's photographic record in a USGS manatee database. Chessie's tell-tale markings include a long, gray scar on his left side.

USGS scientists regularly document manatee sightings to analyze life histories of individuals as part of an ongoing effort to estimate adult survival rates of the endangered Florida manatee. Yet, biologists were surprised to find it was Chessie, a well-known manatee who has not been seen for about 10 years. The last time USGS researchers confirmed a sighting of Chessie was after he swam through Great Bridge Locks in Virginia on August 30, 2001.

By then, Chessie was already well known. After being found in the Kent Narrows area of the Chesapeake Bay in the fall of 1994, researchers became concerned about how he would fare in the oncoming winter. Manatees suffer negative health effects when they endure water temperatures below 68 degrees for any length of time. With water temperatures dropping in the bay, the Marine Animal Rescue Program at the National Aquarium worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Seaworld Orlando, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to rescue Chessie. He was cared for at the aquarium for several days before being successfully flown back to Florida and released.

The current sighting is not driving any plans to rescue Chessie, as the water is still warm and manatees typically work their way back down the eastern seaboard to Florida on their own when cooler weather sets in.

Scientists are not sure whether Chessie visits the Chesapeake Bay every year. After Chessie's 1994 rescue, USGS tagged him and found that he did migrate back to Chesapeake Bay the following spring. Much of what scientists know about manatee migration comes from studies that use radio and satellite tags to reveal key facts about manatees' habitat needs, such as how they use seagrasses and winter refuges.

In general, scientists believe manatee migration from Florida to the Chesapeake Bay may not be unusual, and in fact Chessie was named after legendary sightings of a "sea monster" in the Chesapeake Bay throughout the twentieth century.

Chessie was spotted and identified this year due to the help of two bystanders who took pictures of him and contacted Jennifer Dittmar, the National Aquarium's Coordinator for the Northeast Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Dittmar forwarded Beck photos of the manatees head and back.

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2855

Nile Monitor Lizards: Invasive Species in Florida Threatens Native Species (Via Herp Digest)

0Nile Monitor Lizards: Invasive Species in Florida Threatens Native Species
Author: David R. Wetzel, Ph.D. : Posted to Decoded Science on July 13, 2011 at 6:34 pm

The Nile Monitor (Varanus niloticus) is one of the many non-native invasive species plaguing Florida. These reptiles are a serious threat to native animal species in all state habitats. The first of these aggressive and powerful lizards was found in the wild in 1981, followed by the discovery of an established (breeding) population in 1990. Since then, their numbers in the wild have been increasing steadily throughout the state.

Introduction of Nile Monitors to Florida Habitats
Nile Monitors were originally brought to this country from their native habitats in southern and central Africa as part of the exotic pet trade. Their introduction into the wild is most likely due to escapes or intentional releases by owners who could no longer handle them. These big semi-aquatic lizards may grow to over seven feet (2.42 meters) in length and weigh as much as 20 pounds (10 kg).

The increase in wild population of this invasive species is primarily a result of females laying as many as 60 eggs at a time. Eggs are laid in sand or dirt nests located near water. A female abandons the nest after depositing her eggs, relying on sunlight to incubate the eggs. Gestation typically takes four to six months.

When babies hatch, normally during the months of February through April, they immediately head for the protection of water near the nest. The apparent successful reproduction rate of this invasive species has increased the number of sightings and captures of Nile Monitors in Florida over the past 10 years.

Why These Intelligent Reptiles are a Problem
These intelligent lizards create a problem for native species because their diet includes invertebrates, endangered burrowing owls, insects, carrion, fish, young alligators, young American crocodiles, snakes, turtles, and any terrestrial or aquatic vertebrate they can overpower. They are especially a threat to native egg-laying animals such as birds, turtles, and alligators. Nile Monitors dietary preference is a nest filled with eggs or new born young.

Known for their sharp teeth and bad tempers, Nile Monitors are excellent swimmers and are not limited to any specific habitat. Their known range extends from the Florida Keys to the northern portions of the state. They are found in the Everglades, Cape Coral, Sanibel Island, Tampa Bay, and Key Largo

The range of this invasive species is likely to expand beyond Florida's borders, because these reptiles hibernate during cold months. The limit of their range is unknown; however, their ability to adapt to most habitats may extend their range into bordering southeastern states.

Controlling Non-Native Nile Monitor Lizards in Florida
The first step for controlling the wild population of Nile Monitor lizards is for owners, especially those who can no longer care for their exotic pet, to be responsible. If they are unable to find someone willing to accept their lizard, then contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. This state organization has non-native pet amnesty days and accepts any exotic pet without questions. Owners need to remember that releasing any exotic pet into the wild is illegal.

Residents need to report any sightings of these reptiles to their local Fish and Wildlife Commission office. These lizards are aggressive and may pose a threat to small children, pets, and feral cats after their escape or release into the wild. Their burrows are typically located along the shore line of canals, streams in urban areas, and golf course ponds. This invasive species is often seen basking in the sun near swimming pools, roofs, ponds, canals, sea walls, and grassy areas.

In an effort to eradicate Nile Monitors, the National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) is investigating methods to control the spread of this invasive species capable of eating anything animal it can overpower and fit in its mouth. The NWRC is experimenting with Acetaminophen laced dead neonatal mouse and quail chicks as oral toxicant bait. Initial testing points to possible successful eradication efforts using these baits.

Residents should never attempt to capture a Nile Monitor lizard. When cornered they typically rear-up on their hind legs lashing out with sharp teeth, claws, and a strong tail. Their saliva is known to carry potentially lethal germs and pathogens, which may be fatal to humans. If bitten, seek medical attention immediately.

Sources
Campbell, T. [S.] 2003. Species profile: Nile monitors (Varanus niloticus) in Florida. Iguana 10(4):119-120

Enge, K. M., et al. 2004. Status of the Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus) in Southwestern Florida. Southeastern Naturalist 3:571-582

National Park Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Florida Invaders. Accessed July, 2011.

Somma. L. 2011. Varanus niloticus Fact Sheet. USGS Non-indigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL. Accessed July, 2011.

McGrath, S. 2005. Attack of the alien invaders. National Geographic 207(3):92-117.

Black bear, Florida bicyclist collide

PANAMA CITY, Florida - A Panama City man is recovering after colliding with a black bear while riding his bike to work.

John Hearn said he saw something out of the corner of his eye early Thursday morning. The nearly 300-pound bear smacked him off his bicycle and then fled into some nearby woods. Passing motorists stopped to help Hearn, who sustained minor injuries. The back tire of his bike was also ripped off. Hearn, who bikes to work at Tyndall Air Force Base a few times a week, said he still plans to bike to work.

Meanwhile, Florida's top expert on black bears calls the whole incident extremely unusual.

David Telesco, the state's Black Bear Management Program coordinator, says there are scores of vehicle crashes with bears in Florida every year, but collisions with people are very rare.


"Vehicle strikes are unfortunately somewhat common. In a typical year we get about 150, but actually hitting a person is very rare. The only incident I know of with an accident like that was in Ft. Myers in 2009. A bear ran into a woman who was outside of her place of business. It's just very rare to occur like that."

Bears may pose a danger to people if they stumble upon the animal's food or babies, but Telesco says unprovoked bear attacks have not been reported in Florida.

"We have never had an unprovoked or predatory attack on a person. People have been hurt by bears. Unfortunately it's situations where the bear is defending food or its young, but we've had people feeding bears and they've been swatted."

Florida's black bear population is estimated around 3,000. Increasing development has increased the odds that people will cross the paths of bears. They are large and powerful, but typically shy.

Telesco says one of the best ways to minimize contact with them is to make sure you don't have any trash lying around your yard.

"The number one thing that attracts bears is garbage and if the garbage is not available for bears to access, they have no reason to hang around our neighborhoods."
http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/200596/19/Black-bear-Florida-bicyclist-collide

Giant lizards being hunted down in South Florida

They're not Godzilla size but large, nonnative lizards in two South Florida counties are being hunted down after alarming humans, including a homeowner who found one that slipped through a doggie door.

Nine of the critters — formally known as Nile monitor lizards — were seen recently in Broward and Palm Beach counties, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission warned.

"This is a high-priority species for us," Scott Hardin, who coordinates nonnative species programs at the commission, said in a statement Tuesday. "We plan to go after them aggressively to either try to eradicate them or suppress their numbers if they are determined to be established."

Read on...

Giant Squid, 23 Feet Long, Found By Florida Fishermen

Three fishermen in Stuart, Florida were in for a huge surprise when searching for a catch off Jensen Beach this past weekend. "It was just something that we'd never seen in our lives before," Robert Benz told WPTV.

The three men found a 23-foot-long, 200-pound giant squid floating dead in the Atlantic. Giant squid are known for being an extremely elusive and mysterious creature, and WPTV claims the find was very rare for those waters.

The fishermen took the massive creature to the local commercial docks to see if anyone there had ever seen one. Not surprisingly, they hadn't

While the massive creature was quite the shock, giant squids are actually known to grow much larger. Ellie Van Os, director of education and exhibits for the Florida Oceanographic Society, told TCPalm that they can grow up to 45 feet long and weigh up to a ton.

See video here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/01/giant-squid-florida-fishermen-video_n_888905.html?ir=Weird News

Florida Woman, Finds 7-Foot Alligator In Her Bathroom

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/25/alligator-in-bathroom-florida_n_853197.html

PALMETTO, Fla. (AP) -- A Tampa-area woman found an unwelcome weekend guest in her bathroom – a 7-foot alligator.

Alexis Dunbar says she screamed and the alligator hissed when she found it inside the bathroom of her home Saturday afternoon. Her boyfriend propped a small table by the bathroom to keep the gator inside until an officer from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission showed up to take him away.

Read on (and watch the video)...

Shark jumps over surfer

An amazing video of a shark jumping over a surfer in Florida has become an online hit.

The video was shot by photographer Jacob Langston who inadvertently captured the action while filming surfers off New Smyrna Beach.

Mr Langston, who works for the Orlando Sentinel, said: "I didn't even see the shark jump. But a surfer came up to me and said, "Hey man, did you see that?""

Read on...

Earliest Art in the Americas: Ice Age Image of Mammoth or Mastodon Found in Florida

ScienceDaily (June 21, 2011) — Researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Florida have announced the discovery of a bone fragment, approximately 13,000 years old, in Florida with an incised image of a mammoth or mastodon. This engraving is the oldest and only known example of Ice Age art to depict a proboscidean (the order of animals with trunks) in the Americas. The team's research is published online in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Read on...

Leatherback Sea Turtle Nests Increasing in Florida (Via HerpDigest)

ScienceDaily (Apr. 4, 2011) - The number of endangered leatherback sea turtle nests at 68 beaches in Florida has increased by 10.2 percent a year since 1979, according to a new Duke University-led study published in the current issue of the journal Ecological Applications.

Some beaches posted annual increases of more than 16 percent, others as low as 3.1 percent.
The population boom of turtle nests in the Sunshine State mirrors trends observed for other Atlantic leatherback sea turtle populations and is "very encouraging news," says Larry B. Crowder, director of the Duke Center for Marine Conservation. "It suggests that conservation and recovery efforts mandated under the Endangered Species Act are paying off region-wide."

The growth has likely been fueled in part by improved monitoring and protection of nesting beaches over the last 30 years, Crowder says, but other less benign factors may also be at work.
"Nesting is increasing even where beach protection has not been enhanced," he says. "Changing ocean conditions linked to climate variability may be altering the marine food web and creating an environment that favors turtles by reducing the number of predators and increasing the abundance of prey, particularly jellyfish."

With plenty of jellyfish to munch on, breeding-age female leatherbacks may be able to build up fat reserves more quickly, allowing them to nest more frequently, says Kelly Stewart, lead author of the study. Stewart received her Ph.D. from Duke in 2007 and conducted the research on Florida's leatherback sea turtles as her dissertation research. Crowder was her faculty adviser.

Reduced populations of large predators, including the collapse of shark populations in the northwest Atlantic over the past decade, may be playing an even larger role in the turtle boom by decreasing at-sea mortality rates for juvenile and young adult turtles, she says.

Despite being a small population -- scientists estimate fewer than 1,000 leatherbacks nest on Florida beaches -- the increases in nest counts there may help achieve objectives of the federal Endangered Species Act-mandated recovery plan, Stewart says.

News for leatherback populations elsewhere is not so encouraging, however. Populations have plummeted at eastern Pacific nesting beaches in Mexico and Costa Rica, which once hosted thousands of female leatherbacks each year. Extirpation, or local extinction of the species, may be imminent on those beaches.

"The good news here is that while most sea turtles continue to decline, some sea turtles are increasing. We need to understand why they are increasing as much as why they are declining so we can transfer this understanding to other at-risk species, like Pacific leatherbacks," says Crowder.

Stewart, Crowder and their colleagues modeled the 30-year nest counts on Florida beaches using a type of multilevel statistical analysis called Poisson regression, which is frequently used to model counts affected by multiple, often random, factors.

Nest counts are the most reliable way of assessing trends in sea turtle populations because they spend most of their lives in the open ocean, where changes in abundance are difficult to detect.

Stewart is now based at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Southwest Fisheries Science Center in LaJolla, Calif., as a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow. Prior to that, she served as a postdoctoral research associate at the Duke Center for Marine Conservation.
Other co-authors of the study are Michelle Sims of the University of Bath, U.K., and Anne Meylan, Blair Witherington and Beth Brost, all of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"Eat' Em" Stratagem for Lionfish Invasion in Florida

MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida marine conservationists have come up with a simple recipe for fighting the invading lionfish that is gobbling up local reef life -- eat them.


The Key Largo-based REEF conservation organization has just released "The Lionfish Cookbook," a collection of 45 recipes which is the group's latest strategy to counter an invasion of the non-native reddish brown-striped fish in Florida waters.

It's absolutely good eating -- a delicacy. It's delicately flavored white meat, very buttery," Lad Akins, director of special projects for Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF), told Reuters. He authored the cookbook along with a professional chef, Tricia Ferguson.


Red lionfish, a prickly predator armed with flaring venomous spines like a lion's mane that give them their name, are native to the South Pacific, Indian Ocean and Red Sea.

With few natural predators, they have been rapidly expanding in Caribbean and Atlantic waters, voraciously preying on local fish, shrimp and crab populations across the region and in Florida, which has world-famous coral reefs.

Some scientists are now listing the invasive lionfish species among the top 15 threats to global biodiversity.

While REEF has organized local fishing "derbies" to hunt the lionfish, including handling tips and tasting sessions, Akins said making humans the invading species' top predator was the best way to fight back against the threat it posed.

"Fishermen and divers realize it's a danger to our native marine life, through its predation. But there really aren't government funds to provide bounties or removal programs. So creating a demand for the fish, a market for the fish, is in effect a de facto bounty," he told Reuters.

U.S. government researchers believe the red lionfish was introduced into Florida waters during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 when an aquarium broke and at least six fish spilled into Miami's Biscayne Bay.

By Pascal Fletcher
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=12500740