NEWS-PRESS (Fort Myers, Florida) 14 February 06 Monitors lizards stalked by biologist - University expert researching control of troublesome creature (Charles Runnells)
Ask Todd Campbell about Nile monitor lizards.
Ask him anything.
Chances are, the University of Tampa biologist knows the answer.
How many eggs do the big lizards lay each year? As many as 50.
How long can they stay underwater? Up to an hour.
What's the best bait to trap a monitor? Rotten squid — aka "stinky squid."
"And, for whatever reason," he said, "the stinkier, the better."
Campbell has been monitoring the Cape's monitor lizards since 2003, but it's not because he wants to help the critters.
Quite the opposite.
His project is officially called: "The Eradication of Large Introduced Carnivorous Lizards in Southwest Florida."
In other words, Campbell is hunting for better ways to catch the pests and kill them off. The goal: Destroy or control the lizard population before the 4- to 7-foot lizards can gobble up more of the Cape's burrowing owls and other native wildlife.
"We've got to take this to the next level," Campbell said. "Otherwise, we're going to have a big problem in Cape Coral."
The Cape has become a monitor lizard mecca, with possibly thousands of the big lizards roaming the city — particularly in the southwest Cape. It's the largest population in Florida and the United States.
The lizards recently jumped to Sanibel Island, and federal officials and wildlife experts worry they could spread throughout Florida and the rest of the country.
The city already has a trapping program — a continuation of Campbell's work. They've captured at least 120 lizards so far.
But Cape officials hope to increase that number exponentially, and they hope the federal government helps them do it.
U.S. wildlife officials are coming to Cape Coral Wednesday to learn more about the lizard situation. They'll use that information to decide whether to send down biologists, trappers and other experts later this year.
They'll also attend a 6:30 p.m. workshop to answer residents' questions. The meeting will take place at the council chambers in City Hall.
Officials are particularly concerned about the lizards' effect on burrowing owls, a threatened species. The first documented case of a lizard killing an owl happened last year when a Cape resident saw the owl in a lizard's mouth.
The Cape celebrates the owls — the city's official bird — this Saturday with the annual Burrowing Owl Festival at Rotary Park.
Wildlife biologist Tom Allen, who is doing his own study on the city's burrowing owls, said monitor lizards have virtually no natural predators in the Cape, so they're able to eat and breed to their hearts' content.
Just last week, Allen said, a woman reported seeing a lizard leaving an owl burrow. Allen can't prove that the lizards are eating lots of owls, but he's pretty sure they are.
"They live in burrows, themselves," he said. "So there's no doubt in my mind they'd go into another burrow for an owl."
Campbell and his team of scientists tracked the lizards with radio transmitters for three years, and they're still studying the data. It could be months before they reach any solid conclusions.
Still, they've already learned lots of interesting things.
For example, the lizards will eat almost anything they can get their jaws around: Fish, birds, other lizards and perhaps even house pets.
Campbell's team cut the stomachs out of 80 lizards, and they're still examining the contents.
Scientists haven't found any burrowing owl parts yet. But they have found whole clutches of lizard eggs — dozens of them, shell and all— in their stomachs.
The monitor lizards' diet does have at least one positive effect. They appear to be eating other invasive species, as well.
"We actually found 16 Cuban tree frogs in the gut of one animal," Campbell said. "And we've found brown anoles in about 30 percent of the monitor lizards we've looked at."
Campbell is also learning cool things like how the lizards fight off enemies. They'll stand on their hind legs, flex their arms like a weightlifter and whip their tails in front of them, Indiana Jones style.
"They're pumping their arms like they're trying to show they're a bad guy," Campbell said. "They're very smart."
Monitors can also travel several miles in one week, Campbell said. He once tracked a lizard that swam and ran more than half a mile in one morning.
"It wasn't surprising to me at all," Campbell said. "But it was still kind of neat to see that happening."
All this data may be interesting, but there's a reason behind it.
Campbell hopes eradication of the lizards can soon start in earnest.
"There comes a point where you stop studying them and you start really killing them," he said. "And we're at that point."
Monitors lizards stalked by biologist