Post #14149

Iguanofall in Florida: Thousands of reptiles suddenly fell asleep, filling the entire city. What happened? Frost and sunshine, a wonderful day! Palm trees gently rustle their leaves, freshly fallen snow lies all around, and thousands of iguanas lie motionless under the snow - beauty! Welcome to Florida on January 31, 2026, which has transformed from beautiful sunny tropics into a living surrealist painting in just one day. It was on this day that a particularly powerful Arctic cold front reached the tropical regions of the United States and brought there subzero temperatures with snow and freezing rain for the first time in 15 years. Considering how unprepared local residents are for the cold, we can say that people escaped with little blood. Several hypothermia and car accidents, paralyzed traffic and burst pipes - that’s all the problems. The animal world had it much worse, because a significant part of it consists of cold-blooded animals. And they very poorly tolerate temperatures below 10°C. First, a strong drowsiness rolls over them, then their muscles stiffen and reptiles and amphibians fall into a stupor. And yet, many of them managed to navigate correctly. Alligators and frogs hid in the water that had not had time to cool, toads and lizards dived into the forest floor and cooled down there, in relative safety. But the iguanas could not escape. When the frost hit, they were all on the trees, and so, when their muscles became stiff, the animals began to crumble to the ground, like overripe fruit. And they fell by the thousands. To save the lives of the cold-stunned lizards, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issued a special temporary order allowing anyone to remove iguanas from the wild and take them to special centers deployed throughout the region. But this was done not to save the freezing animals, but to euthanize them. The fact is that green iguanas in Florida are an invasive and extremely dangerous species that cause enormous damage to local farms and wildlife. Therefore, the state government got involved and decided to take advantage of the moment to destroy them. The “harvest” of iguanas collected in this way turned out to be extremely rich; local residents reported that they collected 50-100 iguanas per hour. On the second day of the disaster, the commission reported 5,195 iguanas euthanized. Fortunately for the iguanas, the frost in Florida lasted only until February 4, and now it is stable at +15°C. By local standards, this is still freezing, but the life of the iguanas is no longer in danger, and they can calmly restore the thinned population. While people are still counting losses from the snow disaster. Author: Yaroslav Ilyin 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot