Florida's Plunging Temperatures Cause Frozen Iguanas to Fall From Trees

The scene at my backyard swimming pool this 40-degree South Florida morning: A frozen iguana. [...]

By Stephen Andrew

The major plunge in temperature in the United States has resulted in some surprising new stories, but maybe none bizarre than reports of what is happening in Florida.

Down in the Sunshine State, the below-40-degrees temperatures have caused iguanas to freeze and fall out of trees, as reported by The Washington Post.

Palm Beach journalist Frank Cerabino shared a photo on Twitter of one that fell and landed near his pool, writing, "The scene at my backyard swimming pool this 40-degree South Florida morning: A frozen iguana."

Maxine Bentzel, a West Palm Beach reporter also shared a photo of a frozen iguana and commented, "The iguanas have a good chance of thawing out if you move them in the sun. Just be careful."

However, Kristen Sommers of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission refutes this advice, saying that it's best to leave them alone as "like any wild animal, it will try to defend itself" once it warms up.

Ron Magill of the Miami Zoo shared a humorous, albeit terrifying, story from 2010 about a Florida man who gathered up frozen iguanas that sounds like something more out of Tommy Boy than it does real life.

The man placed all the many iguanas in the back of his car and once they warmed up they began crawling all over, eventually making their way onto him, and nearly caused a wreck.

While this is happening quite frequently right now, it's certainly not a common occurrence, as Sommers added, "There have not been an influx of calls to FWC about people worried about iguanas falling out of trees. It's not like something you see every year."

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