NILE CROCODILES IN SOUTHERN FLORIDA

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Bryan Hamilton
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NILE CROCODILES IN SOUTHERN FLORIDA

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

Cool paper by our own Mike Rochford. The introduction to the abstract is bomber

"The state of Florida, USA, has more introduced herpetofauna than any other governmental region on Earth. "

http://www.herpconbio.org/Volume_11/Iss ... l_2016.pdf
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WSTREPS
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Re: NILE CROCODILES IN SOUTHERN FLORIDA

Post by WSTREPS »

"The state of Florida, USA, has more introduced herpetofauna than any other governmental region on Earth. "
Put that into its proper perspective. The state of Florida has more introduced species then any other governmental region on Earth. Of the total number the introduced herpetofauna represent a small percentage. There are so many total introduced species its difficult to get an accurate count on how many there are. Yet the native wildlife is flourishing and in some cases populations are at an all time recorded high.

With the exception of the Cuban tree frog and possibly the brown anole none of the introduced herpetofuna have been shown to be harmful.
While there is no current evidence of an established population of C. niloticus in Florida or Mississippi, much of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts could provide similar climatic conditions.
Sure just like San Francisco could support a population of Burmese pythons. You could name a million species that those areas could support. Is anyone seeing caiman in Mississippi? How about wild boas in Tampa. They don't have any evidence of an established population in Florida but they are already talking about how the crocs could spread.

Using this climate matching BS to try and scare people into thinking that not only can these dangerous animals become established but can spread across the country. Its always the same game. In the advent of thousand's, millions of Nile crocs rampaging across the country. Its been proven that you can quickly wipe out crocs to the point of extinction without the use of science, technology or millions of dollars in funding. Just shoot um.
Four species of nonnative crocodilians have been introduced to Florida (all since 1960), one of which is established.
The one is the caiman. After half a century how much has that population grown ? Exactly. The fear business is the invasive threat that's doing the most damage to the country.
Introducing C. niloticus to the native range of C. acutus may result in hybrids degrading the genetic integrity of C. acutus, a state and federally listed species.
There
The American crocodile is a very common crocodile and has a massive range . The loss of "genetic integrity" in that species' is about as realistic a problem as Burmese pythons in Delaware. Gotta love the tag line , a state and federally listed species. To try and imply a sense of urgency and greater importance to a hypothetical situation.
For the record alligators are also a state and federally listed species.

A little side note on genetic integrity. Biologist had no qualms with mix and matching Texas cougars into the mythical Florida panther population. Clearly the only Integrity that's been lost has been in the academic community and its not coming back.

Ernie Eison
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