How does the increase in population of green iguanas affect Taiwan? | Born to be Wild
Aired (November 26, 2023): The rapid increase of the population of green iguanas carries negative effects on Taiwan’s agriculture, namely irrigation and their crops. How do they deal with it? Watch this video.
‘Born to be Wild’ is GMA Network’s groundbreaking environmental and wildlife show hosted by resident veterinarians Doc Nielsen Donato and Doc Ferds Recio. #BornToBeWild
Watch it every Sunday, 9 AM on GMA
Network. Subscribe to youtube.com/gmapublicaffairs for our full episodes.
‘Born to be Wild’ is GMA Network’s groundbreaking environmental and wildlife show hosted by resident veterinarians Doc Nielsen Donato and Doc Ferds Recio. #BornToBeWild
Watch it every Sunday, 9 AM on GMA
Network. Subscribe to youtube.com/gmapublicaffairs for our full episodes.
Transcript
00:00 The three iguanas are quietly resting on the top of the tree.
00:07 But they became alert when they noticed that there is a bigger iguana looking at them.
00:24 The color of this iguana is different. Its scales are reddish.
00:31 Until...
00:34 Suddenly a green iguana jumped and left.
00:40 Because the bigger iguana is on top of their position.
00:51 [Music]
00:53 So the other iguanas were stopped and hidden.
01:06 Because in this territory, he is the king.
01:18 [Music]
01:20 When the tree knocked, he showed that he is the boss here.
01:45 [Music]
01:47 The way he raised his head is an expression of dominance and territorial.
01:56 This is done by a fully grown male iguana.
02:02 Sometimes, this is also their way to communicate.
02:12 [Music]
02:14 It's like he is saying, "I know you are here."
02:19 Maybe he guarded his territory well.
02:38 But his enemy is not an iguana.
02:42 But...
02:43 Humans.
02:47 But these cute residents are not welcome in Taiwan.
02:54 Because they are one of the distant enemies of the farmers and the community here.
03:01 Because they are one of the pests in the land that is farmed here in Taiwan.
03:06 [Music]
03:08 The destroyer and destroyer of the farm.
03:12 They plough the land and pollute the waterways for the farms.
03:23 And because of their spread,
03:27 in 2019, they decided to catch the iguana through Joby, a deputized hunter of pests.
03:37 They usually use air guns to catch the iguana.
03:42 There, there, there. Green.
03:45 This place is really infested.
03:56 The iguana is really green.
03:58 It's juvenile.
04:00 Wow.
04:11 They already have three iguanas in this tree.
04:15 This iguana is guarding his territory well.
04:23 But he is not the owner of this iguana.
04:26 Because they are a distant enemy of the Tainan City in Taiwan.
04:32 In 2004, a small iguana was found in the Tainan City in Taiwan.
04:42 It raised an alarm among experts and the government.
04:49 Because the green iguana is not native to Taiwan.
04:53 Because they are found in Central America.
04:58 Because of their abundance, the government decided to catch the iguana.
05:07 And Joby's group was given authorization to catch these.
05:19 The damage caused by the green iguana in Tainan, Taiwan,
05:24 is not actually a statistical issue.
05:27 Most of the cases are about the government.
05:33 But they only know about the situation and will give you a list of how to catch the iguana.
05:40 But in reality, they can't solve the problem because there are too many of them.
05:47 With limited funds, they can only limit the number of them.
05:52 But they can't solve the problem.
05:55 They also have a big iguana that was seen here.
06:03 But...
06:07 But...
06:08 It's hard to catch it because it fell into the house of a fisherman.
06:25 Ouch!
06:26 Beep beep beep beep!
06:28 Wow!
06:31 Look at this monster!
06:33 Monsters in Taiwan.
06:36 It's a matured male.
06:38 Almost as tall as me. I'm 5'10.5".
06:45 Big one.
06:47 One day, they were able to catch 10 of them.
06:51 But we witnessed how many iguanas there are.
06:55 You have small ones, you have big ones.
06:57 We saw a total of 15.
07:01 The ones that escaped, the ones that were shot.
07:04 And look at this.
07:06 This afternoon, we caught a big one.
07:08 And it's true that the iguanas have invaded some parts of Taiwan.
07:12 It's a big issue.
07:14 But not all of them can be caught.
07:17 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah!
07:20 Oh yeah!
07:21 Here, here, here, here!
07:23 Old. Looks like an old one. Boom!
07:26 We saw that it was hit by an old iguana.
07:29 It's color is black.
07:32 And I saw that it was hit but...
07:35 Where?
07:38 Oh there!
07:40 It looks like it recovered.
07:42 That adult male iguana recovered.
07:45 It's still swimming here.
07:48 Sometimes, these iguanas become slucky and have another chance to live.
07:51 Iguanas are diurnal and arboreal.
07:57 They can live for 8 years in the wild.
08:00 They lay more than 60 eggs per year.
08:06 The problem with agriculture is also growing.
08:12 They destroy and destroy irrigation and waterways.
08:18 Even fruits and plants are eaten.
08:23 The reason is to lose money.
08:29 In other farms, they steal food and destroy the hens' nests.
08:39 In this video, you can see two iguanas chasing ducks.
08:45 They are fighting over the food of farm animals.
08:51 But not all iguanas in Taiwan are killed.
08:59 Some are taken care of.
09:02 One of them is Xiao Lu, who was taken care of by Mavis when he was a child.
09:09 Mavis is the owner of a school.
09:12 They are the mascot of this iguana.
09:15 How did you get Xiao Lu?
09:17 How did you apply for a license from the government?
09:20 We required some papers.
09:37 Due to the increasing number of iguanas in southern Taiwan,
09:40 the government has no choice but to stop their agriculture before it destroys the iguanas.
09:50 The reason for this is not the fault of the iguanas,
09:55 but the people who were neglected in raising them.
09:59 [Music]
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10:21 [Music]
10:23 (music fades)
10:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]