Taipei Times
Date:  Aug 20, 2019
By: Chen Wen-chan and Sherry Hsiao  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The number of green iguanas in the wild has been increasing, with more than 2,500 removed from

Kaohsiung and Pingtung County alone this year, an academic has said.

The invasive species has spread across Taiwan, said Chen Tien-hsi (陳添喜), a professor at the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology’s Institute of Wildlife Conservation.

Imported into the nation as pets, the iguanas are small at birth, but can grow into “2m monsters,” the Kaohsiung Agriculture Bureau said on Sunday.

Green iguanas do not have any natural enemies in Taiwan, as no native lizard species can reach their size, the bureau said, adding that adult green iguanas have huge appetites, feeding on insects as well as crops.    [FULL  STORY]