- [Mark] What's that?
- There's a tegu right there.
- [Mark] Where? - It's back.
It's right on the edge of the grass, you see that?
- [Mark] It looks like a rock.
Careful.
(dramatic music)
Wow!
(adventurous music)
(tense music)
- [Coyote] From high in the sky,
the pine scrub forests of Southern Florida
appear to be calm and quiet.
Yet, hidden amidst the plants and rugged terrain,
reptilian invaders move with stealth amongst the shadows.
I am sure you have heard tales about the Burmese Python,
and how this giant snake has not only
become established in the Everglades,
but how it has also become a serious threat
to local species.
However, there is a new threat
that has recently crawled into the spotlight.
A lizard native to South America
that is notoriously famous for being an aggressive predator.
The black and white tegu.
Today the crew and I are headed out
into the Southern Regions of Homestead, Florida.
We will be exploring a forested expanse
that runs adjacent to an agricultural zone,
where we will try our luck
at finding one of these elusive reptiles.
So right now we are driving through an agricultural area,
which is considered disturbed habitat, right Mario?
- [Mario] Yeah.
- And why is disturbed habitat a good place to look
for invasive species?
- [Mario] Well, oftentimes in disturbed habitat
you don't have any species that have been established,
so non-native species come in and they find
kind of an area that's free of predators and other species.
For the Argentinian tegu it means free food.
- [Coyote] There are known to be at least
two established breeding populations of tegu in this area,
and sightings are reported almost weekly.
These lizards are incredibly resilient to weather changes
and can adapt to nearly any tropical environment
barring a plentiful food source is available.
Combine with the fact that during breeding season
females can lay up to 35 eggs in a single nest
and that they have very few natural predators,
you can see why their numbers have quickly increased
and the populations have established a stronghold.
Okay this looks pretty wild out here,
and I'll show you guys, check this out.
Right across the way here...
That is agricultural area.
So, this is exactly the spot where
a lot of farmers have been seeing tegus.
You can see on this side is agriculture,
and on the opposite side is wilderness area.
No one knows exactly how many of these lizards
are roaming amongst the underbrush,
but experts predict numbers to run well into the thousands.
This is definitely way more wilderness-ey
than agriculture.
But it's dense.
This underbrush is gonna be really hard
to spot anything in.
Kinda feel like moving along this old trail
is probably the best way to go.
Check this out.
You have spots like this, the ground is starting to warm up.
A spot like that is where one of these lizards
could come out and be basking,
and that's what we're hoping to find right now
is a lizard out basking in the sun warming up for the day.
It's actually chilly out this morning, so,
I don't know if that's gonna hurt our chances
of actually finding one,
but I guess we just start hiking,
and hopefully we get lucky.
We broke trail and headed off into the wilderness.
Navigating this location was incredibly difficult,
which forced us to move slowly
as we searched among the tangled plants and rocky terrain.
Tegu are masters of disguise,
and their black and white skin
allows them to perfectly camouflage amidst the shadows,
oftentimes making them difficult to find.
I'm gonna pretty much say that
trudging through that for hours
is not gonna get us anywhere.
I think we just stick to this road.
I think we have just as good a chance
of finding something on this, so,
if I head this direction,
hopefully we'll come across something.
With hundreds of acres to cover,
defaulting to the trails seemed like a smart play,
and it wasn't long before we stumbled upon
the most wanted lizard in South Florida.
(tense music)
- [Mark] What's that?
- There's a tegu right there.
- [Mark] Where? - It's back.
It's just up on the edge...
Right on the edge of the road!
- [Mark] I don't see it.
- [Coyote] Right there, look at the edge of the road.
See that dark thing looks like a rock?
That's a lizard, do you see it's tail?
- [Mark] That's not a rock?
- [Coyote] That's a lizard.
Here, here... - [Mark] You sure?
- Take this camera.
- [Mark] Careful.
Got it?
- Got it, got it, got it, got it!
- [Mark] Nice!
- Yes!
- [Mark] Oh, wow! - Wow!
That is a tegu!
And it is cold!
Wow, put your hand out there.
Feel how cold the lizard is?
- Ice cold, ice cold.
- That's why it didn't bolt,
it's actually basking in the sun right now.
Now I can't get complacent because it could
explode in power at any point in time,
let me get some of this grass out of its mouth, there...
There we go.
Wow!
And sure enough, just like the farmer said
there is the black and white tegu!
Look at how big that lizard is!
This thing must be...
What, almost three feet in length.
Now these guys are omnivores,
which means they eat plants and animals
and one of their favorite things to eat are eggs.
Look at that mouth right there, right?
Now this can take down all sorts of other
little small mammals and lizards,
but it's the eggs that we really worry
about these lizards going after.
Not only alligator eggs but also
endangered American crocodiles.
Okay...
Yeah you can see the lizard is now really starting
to warm up in the sun, just...
Jeez look at that, look at what it just did to my arm,
just with one scrape.
My arm is shaking, I'm so...
I cannot believe we've come across a tegu.
We haven't actually even been out here that long,
only searching for about 20 minutes.
Now, I don't know if that's just luck
being in the right place at the right time,
or if there are actually that many tegu
out here in this environment.
But sure enough, just across from an agricultural area,
the farmers said they have been seeing tegus,
and this is proof right here.
- [Mark] Now can a lizard like that
give you a good chomp?
- Oh my gosh, if my hand got stuck in the mouth
of this lizard it would be a really bad situation.
Now, they are not venomous,
however their jaws will lock in place.
Look at the muscle on the side of these jaws here,
incredibly powerful.
Oh, I hear you hissin'.
I hear you hissin', ooh, ooh, hold on, hold on...
Ah, jeez he is strong.
Yeah, I am giving him exactly what he needs today,
which is some time in front of the sun
and I can actually feel him getting stronger
by the minute.
If you get your hand stuck in the mouth of this lizard,
it's not only going to chomp down,
but if it shakes its body, those teeth are curved backwards,
similar to the teeth of a spine-tailed iguana,
or something like a Komodo dragon.
Those teeth will literally shred your appendages.
So, if I'm bitten there is a good chance
we'll be on our way to the hospital.
- [Mark] So, people at home might be wondering,
is this a dangerous situation?
Do we have to respect the power of this lizard,
because it seems to be pretty calm.
- It does, and even I find myself getting
a little complacent.
Just a couple seconds ago you saw
that it lashed out with its hind legs
and ripped open my arm.
These claws...
Look at the claws on the back foot there.
I mean these are razor sharp--
- [Mark] That's a talon.
- Hooked claws.
Now, these lizards are incredibly intelligent,
almost problem solving intelligent.
It's one of the reasons they've become so popular
in the pet trade, not to mention
they're absolutely gorgeous.
Look at that coloration, right?
- [Mark] Yeah.
- Except you can see how large they get
and it's a tough creature to take care of
because of the amount of food that it eats.
A lot of times people get them when they're very small
and then they think to themselves,
"Oh, I can't take care of it anymore, it's so big.",
and then they release them out into the wild.
Now I'm guessing this lizard is one
that probably was born in the wild.
Just given it's skinny nature and its demeanor, so--
- [Mark] And this is not a pet, even though it's--
- This is not a pet.
- [Mario] That lizard seems pretty calm right now,
but that's just because of the environment
that it's in.
- Yes, that has to do with the fact
that it's cool out here this morning
and the fact it's just woken up from brumation.
I mean, this is a very skinny lizard.
Honestly, this lizard needs some eggs,
it needs some meat, it needs some vegetables,
it needs some food, for sure.
And, I guarantee that today this lizard was
waking up, getting ready to go out there and hunt.
Now if you look at this animal you think to yourself
"Wow, what a gorgeous reptile!"
and it makes me sad to say that this
is one of the few times where I catch an animal
and I cannot release it back out into the wild.
This is an invasive species.
But the good news for this lizard is
that we have a research group
that's going to take it in
and it's now going to become an educational animal
to teach people why the tegu
doesn't necessarily make a good pet
and how they're becoming a problem out here
as an invasive species in South Florida.
But this was pretty awesome,
spending out morning searching around
and then getting up close with the black and white tegu.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild!
We'll see you on the next adventure.
Wow, you really scratched up my arm!
No one knows the exact origin of the tegu invasion,
the only thing we know for sure
is that the black and white tegu competes with
and consumes Florida's native wildlife.
The threat is real, and many experts feel as if
that problem is getting out of control.
If you live in Florida
and see one of these lizards in the wild,
contact your local Fish and Wildlife Division
to report the sighting.
These lizards are beautiful animals,
however they simply do not belong in this ecosystem.
If you thought the tegu was a dangerous looking lizard,
make sure to go back and watch the episode
where I was bitten by another one
of Florida's reptilian invaders, the Burmese python.
And don't forget, subscribe,
so you can join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
(coyote howl)