5 March 5-11, 2026 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ SOUTH FLORIDA REPTILE BRAIN DID SOUTH FLORIDA JUST GAIN AN INVASIVE SPECIES? MEET THE NILE MONITOR. BY B. SCOTT MCLENDON S outh Florida is already home to iguanas, crocodiles, and alliga- tors, and all manner of danger- ous animals (looking at you, Burmese pythons), but few likely know we also have dragons. Invasive species hunters are noticing Nile monitors on their ventures through South Florida’s waterways while searching for other dangerous reptiles. According to Flor- ida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commis- sion (FWC) officials, Nile monitors have been in South Florida since the 1990s and were first noted in Miami-Dade County in 2008, but hunters say they’re increasingly encoun- tering the lizards. South Florida-based invasive species hunter Mike Kimmel (AKA python cowboy) describes the Nile monitor as essentially a smaller version of a Komodo dragon, accord- ing to Outdoor Life. The Komodo dragon and Nile monitor belong to the same genus (Vara- nus) and family (Varanidae). While the Ko- modo dragon is the largest living monitor lizard, the Nile monitor is the largest African monitor. FWC describes the lizard as a semi- aquatic animal with olive-green/black skin with cream-colored or yellow stripes. Their tails are usually one-and-a-half times longer than their bodies and are rudder-shaped to help navigate waterways. “Nile monitors may be observed basking on rocks and branches and are often seen in or close to water,” according to FWC. “They are mostly active during the day. At night, they may sleep on branches or submerged in water in warm weather or retreat to burrows in cooler weather. Nile monitors are skillful climbers and adept swimmers. They can remain underwater for 12 to 15 minutes.” Their diet, like many invasive species, is broad and includes many of Florida’s native species, including crabs, crayfish, mussels, snails, slugs, termites, caterpillars, beetles, spiders, grasshoppers, crickets, frogs, fish, toads, lizards, turtles, snakes, young croco- diles, birds (and their eggs), as well as small mammals, accord- ing to FWC. “While they’ve been in the area a little while, they’re just starting to be- come a problem where people are seeing them more, and they’re start- ing to have an ef- fect on our native wildlife,” Kimmel says in a YouTube video. People have spotted the Nile monitor in Lee and Palm Beach counties for years, but are now seeing them more often in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, according to FWC and hunters like Kimmel. Like other invasive species, including Burmese pythons and green iguanas, it’s legal to humanely kill Nile monitors on private property without a permit, with landowner permission, or on one of 32 commission- managed lands in South Florida. “It’s a predatory lizard, and they don’t mess around,” Kimmel says in the video. “They’re not dumb. They’re more like a py- thon mixed with an iguana. That’s a good way to think of them.” [email protected] | RIPTIDE | Florida has added a new invasive species: the Nile monitor. Flickr/FWC photo GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS “PEOPLE ARE SEEING THEM MORE, AND THEY’RE STARTING TO HAVE AN EFFECT ON OUR NATIVE WILDLIFE.”
