Florida Battles Six-Foot Predator from the Nile
Floridians have been in a land war with invasive Burmese pythons for years, but there’s another interloper in the Sunshine State that is probably as bad as the snakes, the Nile monitor. The six-foot predatory lizards hail from the Nile River in Africa, but they’ve found an agreeable habitat in the canals of Palm Beach County.
Like the pythons, Nile monitors emerged from the exotic-pet trade, escapees from their owners or sprung by tropical storms. The big lizards – cousins of the Komodo dragon – are notoriously difficult to capture and the state made them illegal to possess in 2021.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission does what it can to control the spread of the reptiles, but the lizards are fast and wary, and they are prodigious eaters with a varied diet: birds and their eggs, turtles (and their eggs), frogs, crabs, fish, snakes, small mammals, and young alligators or crocodiles. On the plus side, they also chow down some invasive species, such as green iguanas. So far, nothing in Florida eats the predator.
The Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus) is long and thin, with skin mottled with gray and yellow dots. They’re most active in daylight, and take shelter in burrows or trees at night. The burrowing itself is a problem, as it can erode and collapse sidewalks, seawalls, and canal banks.
The lizard has found purchase in a few locations around the state, but are thriving particularly along Palm Beach canals, where they have plenty of prey. A separate, smaller population has sprung up west of Fort Myers, in Cape Coral.
The FWC says a shotgun blast is the most effective method of control, and has made it open season for the public to hunt Nile monitors in Florida year-round. The agency does insist on adherence to anti-cruelty laws, so the beast has that going for it too.
Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health / University of Georgia
Photo credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
