Posted by
Dave Kooker on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 3:37:04 PM
Brown Anoles (Lizards) vs. Red Fire Ants
I personally believe that Mother Nature can correct the balance of nature whether the imbalance was caused naturally or my human intervention. I also believe that Mother Nature is far more resilient than our progressive ‘climate change’ adversaries would like to brain wash us with. Mother Nature is no delicate daisy. After watching my son (Bryce) disrupt a red fire ant mound this past Saturday afternoon, I am conceived that evasive species also find their balance to where they become compatible or better suited than the indigenous species of animals.
The red fire ant was accidentally introduced into the United States in 1929, when a cargo ship that had used soil as ballast arrived in Mobile Alabama from South America. The red fire ants initially spread throughout Alabama and Florida, but it didn't take them long to invade twelve of our southeastern states and Puerto Rico. In recent years, the red fire ant has spread as far west as California and as far north as Kansas and Maryland. Today the red fire ant habitat in the USA covers 300 million acres and it is growing all the time.
The brown anole is a small Caribbean lizard that colonized south Florida and Mexico about 50-60 years ago. The brown anole swarm over the Miami area and south Florida in general, but they are very plentiful in the Jacksonville Florida area. The brown anole is thought to be responsible for a dramatic decline of the stable population of the green anole (American Chameleon), the only anole native to the United States. These brown anoles do have a nasty temper and will bite. Sometimes children will catch them and let the brown anole bite their ear lobes and walk around with lizard earrings.
As my son Bryce was kicking the red fire ant mound, the red fire ants began to swarm the mound so we stepped back. All of a sudden, the common brown anoles began to jump off the Sego palms and the vines growing on the brick walls of my house’s foundation. In less than 30 seconds, there were approximately 20 brown anoles feasting on the red fire ants off the edge of the ant mound. I was amazed that there was another animal that considered the red fire ants a part of the food chain.
Again on Monday evening, I was enjoying a fine hand rolled cigar on my front porch with the red fire ant mound in my view. During the hour, I observed four brown anoles scratch the red fire ant mound, run off the mound, and pick of the red fire ants as the ants walked to the edge of the mound. From research on the Internet of brown anoles, I see that brown anoles will eat ants but it did not specifically state red fire ants. As the brown anole population flourishes here in Jacksonville Florida, I hope these little guys can naturally contain the red fire ant population. Step aside American Chameleon; this job is for the brown anole.
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