Green iguana is a serious invasive species in Taiwan. It has exploded on a large scale in the past five years. Relevant departments encourage people to remove them, but cruel abuses such as firecrackers, bows and arrows shooting heads, and chopping them into pieces, which is shocking. For this reason, the animal rights organization calls for the establishment of humanitarian removal measures as soon as possible.
The only reptile that sacrifices itself to protect females
green iguana, scientifically known as the American iguana (Iguana) is a type of large lizard . It may be the largest species in the iguana family. It can reach 1 to 2 meters in length from head to tail and weigh more than 9 kilograms. Green iguana is native to southern Mexico to central Brazil, as well as Paraguay, Bolivia and Caribbean and other regions.
Green iguana is mainly herbivorous and feeds on the leaves, buds, flowers, fruits of more than 100 plants, but what it likes the most is the buds of plants, which laid the groundwork for them to be cruelly tortured after they fell out of favor.
Green iguana is a heliopathic reptile. She lives in a tree, is agile and good at climbing. She can jump from a 15-meter or 5-story high place, and catch leaves or branches without being injured after falling freely. Her light skills are unparalleled in the world.
green iguana can lay 20 to 71 eggs in one child, but it is a kind of unresponsible parent who is born without any responsibility. Sometimes it even lays eggs in the nests of American crocodiles and caiman to share the nests with them. So in the first year after the birth of the green iguana, the cubs will live together in a group life, and when they encounter predators , male green iguanas often sacrifice themselves to protect the females. This may be the only one among reptiles, which is really touching.
invades the world and becomes a large crop pest
Because of its beautiful appearance and bright colors, the green iguana is praised by many pet lovers, and began its expansion history of invading the world.
In the United States, green iguanas are the most traded reptiles, accounting for 46% of the total U.S. reptile trade between 1996 and 2012, and imported 1 million in 1996. Taiwan, China and some countries in Latin America have large-scale breeding farms for sale.
is similar to green iguanas but not raised, and humans also abandon green iguanas at all times. Because green iguanas have strong adaptability, fast growth and amazing reproductive power, a place often breeds in large quantities soon after being introduced, resulting in the abandonment or release of green iguanas.
These abandoned green iguanas have gained absolute freedom. In new habitats, they often have no natural enemies and sufficient food. They can quickly occupy the ecological niche and begin explosive expansion, and successively conquered regions and countries such as Fiji , Puerto Rico, San Martin , and the Canary Islands of Spain.
In the invasive species' favorite US Florida , the green iguana has established its own population and has become the undisputed landlord. The most ridiculous thing is that due to global warming and violent temperature fluctuations, Florida has often been hit by cold waves in recent years. Green iguanas often fall from trees and are nicknamed "frozen iguana bath." This phenomenon happened again in December just past, but after the sunlight came out, they often quickly returned to normal and enjoyed the Florida sunshine happily.
invaded Taiwan and was cruelly killed
In Taiwan, green iguanas especially love the climate here and soon became flooded. In 2016, only 527 people arrested and removed. Five years later, in 2000, the number of removed by statistics reached 14,536, a 27-fold increase.
These green iguanas chew on crops, dig holes and hide at the edges of the ridges and earth embankments, destroying the river channels, causing great trouble to farmers, and at the same time pose a great threat to the local ecology, and may even lead to the extinction of some species. It will soon reach the point where everyone shouts and beats, so it is not surprising that the abuse and killing behavior occurs.
On social media, some netizens have uploaded photos and videos of killing green iguanas. It includes shooting green iguanas with bows and arrows, tying green iguanas with limbs, stuffing firecrackers into their mouths to detonate, and even cutting green iguanas with a knife piece by piece.
animal protectors are deeply saddened by this and criticized the laissez-faire and encouragement of relevant departments for causing these cruel abuses and killings.In 2017, some departments used green iguanas as pests and introduced bounty removal plans. Capturing green iguanas can get food and cash rewards, resulting in the occurrence of indiscriminate killing. Some local lizards were also affected because many people could not distinguish them at all. The bad nature of
people also leads to some people getting into trouble when they have time and taking the green iguanas they raise to receive bonuses, but the relevant departments have not verified it at all. The most exaggerated thing is that the bonus amount for 2017 was actually collected in one day, which is simply blatantly cheating.
Animal Protection Organization calls for the establishment of humanitarian invasive species removal measures to deal with these invasive animals by taking into account animal welfare.
In fact, with the development of modern society and the advancement of transportation, personnel exchanges are becoming more and more frequent, the earth has become smaller and smaller, and the global integration of species may no longer be stopped. How to prevent the invasion of species from on a global scale and avoid the loss of species diversity on the earth is a serious global issue and requires the joint efforts of the international community.
