Unfortunately, a Bufo toad loves to eat everything including native Floridian frogs and toads. Fortunately venomous Bufo toads are not found in Wisconsin - our local toads just taste very yucky! The Bufo toad ( Bufo marinus) is an invasive species in Florida, having been accidentally released near Miami in the 1950s after being used elsewhere to control grubs damaging sugar cane fields. In veterinary school, our toxicology professor harped on the importance of understanding Bufo toad poisonings in pet dogs. Seeing live Bufo toads up close and personal at The Dinosaur Store and the Brevard Zoo was a real surprise and a treat. Kim Everson poses with a Bufo marinus toad, aįlorida invasive species and a poisonous pest to pets The Dinosaur Store keeps a gigantic fat Bufo toad, which they’ve decided is female due to her remarkable girth (she looks to be about the size of a canned ham) and notable silence.ĭr. The tail end of our energetic conversation turned to conservation issues ranging from efforts to protect endangered Florida panthers and Chinese alligators to efforts to eradicate invasive pythons and toads. Rhiannon and I chatted about the difference between albino and leucistic (aka color dilute) animals, the causes and treatment for stomatitis in snakes (sometimes these mouth infections occur after the snake is bitten by its rodent prey), and the difference in porosity between crocodiles and alligator skeletons (the small holes lighten their skeletal weight and aid their keen ability to sense swimming prey). I peppered her with questions about reptile genetics, husbandry and how to treat common ailments. It was a close-up view of alligators that lured us into Cocoa Beach’s The Dinosaur Store on a particularly chilly day, but what kept us there were reptiles of a different stripe and a friendly herpetologist, Rhiannon Bonine. Rhiannon shares The Dinosaur Store’s gentle tegu,Ī South American omnivorous lizard with Dr. What’s more, alligators are being studied for clues into their remarkable capability to heal and fight off infections - they may even help unlock a cure for AIDs. Since 1948, when records started being kept, only twenty people have been killed by alligators in Florida. And as fearsome as these giant “lizards” are (by the way, alligator is derived from the Spanish word for lizard “el lagarto”), it really is possible to co-exist peacefully with them. After being added to the Endangered Species list in the 1960s, the American alligator has been successfully restored to healthy numbers. Even blood on the roadway is no guarantee you’ve encountered a dead reptile rather than a recently feeding one! With an abundance of caution I approached the alligator, saddened but also relieved to find its skull had been crushed by an automobile and it was utterly dead.įlorida alligators are a huge tourist attraction in Florida inspiring both awe and fear. Neither may blink or appear to be breathing. Having now witnessed numerous cold, sluggish alligators in Florida winter, I assure you a sleepy alligator basking in the sun and a dead road-kill alligator look remarkably similar. When we observed the gator unmoved from this location on our exit, we paused to investigate. Particularly large alligator lying strangely close to the highway on our way into the Refuge. Kim Everson investigates a road-killed alligator The most memorable alligator experience of our trip occurred on this outing when we drove past aĭr. We also drove past several Florida soft-shelled turtles, a few non-venomous water snakes and some alligators. Although I’m no birder, I enjoyed identifying coots, pelicans, ibis, herons, egrets, osprey and grebes and simply appreciated the sheer number and beauty of scores of unidentified birds. Upon entering you receive a check list of migratory and resident birds that you might observe in the sanctuary. If you are a bird watcher, this is a must-do while on the Space Coast of Florida. We kicked off our trip by driving through the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge for a nominal park fee of $5.00. I recently returned to frigid Wisconsin after visiting family near Cocoa Beach, Florida, enriched with vitamin D and the following unusual animal encounters. Whenever I manage to sneak my family and myself away from our regular life for a week during the winter, I feel I owe it to my clients, my children’s teachers and myself to broaden my horizons in an educational way while soaking up some sun.
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