It's so cold in Florida, iguanas are falling from trees

January 4, 2018

MIAMI (AP) -- It's so cold in Florida that iguanas are falling from their perches in suburban trees.

The National Weather Service in Miami said temperatures dipped below 40 degrees early Thursday in parts of South Florida. That's chilly enough to immobilize green iguanas common in Miami's suburbs.

Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino tweeted a photograph of an iguana lying belly-up next to his swimming pool.

WPEC-TV posted images of an iguana on its back on a Palm Beach County road.

Green iguanas are an exotic species in Florida known for eating through landscaping and digging burrows that undermine infrastructure.

They're not the only reptiles stunned by this week's cold snap: sea turtles also stiffen up when temperatures fall. Officials with Gulf World Marine Institute in Panama City Beach say

and are now in rehabilitation. Wildlife officials say the frigid animals may appear dead but often are still alive.