--- title: Florida's Everglades: The 5 Worst Invasive Species | TIME description: Florida's Everglades is ground zero for the issue of invasive Species. Here are 5 of the worst canonical: https://time.com/video/OTAC142S/ og:title: Florida's Everglades: The 5 Worst Invasive Species og:description: Florida's Everglades is ground zero for the issue of invasive Species. Here are 5 of the worst og:url: https://time.com/video/OTAC142S/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/OTAC142S/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Florida's Everglades: The 5 Worst Invasive Species twitter:description: Florida's Everglades is ground zero for the issue of invasive Species. Here are 5 of the worst twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/OTAC142S/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Florida's Everglades: The 5 Worst Invasive Species > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Florida's Everglades: The 5 Worst Invasive Species [Watch (HLS stream): Florida's Everglades: The 5 Worst Invasive Species](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OTAC142S.m3u8) (4:40)  _Published 2014-07-09. Florida's Everglades is ground zero for the issue of invasive Species. Here are 5 of the worst_ --- Jul 27, 2023 4:58 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Missing Kayaker Found Floating Alive After His Cell Phone Washes Up in Florida Everglades](/video/hRbsSg8v/) ### Missing Kayaker Found Floating Alive After His Cell Phone Washes Up in Florida Everglades [Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species](/video/zHyAT7e9/) ### Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species [Florida's Hispanic Voters - An Independent Streak ](/video/ItqqbDrW/) ### Florida's Hispanic Voters - An Independent Streak --- ## Transcript Invasive species are a major problem in the U. S ., and they cost billions of dollars in damages each year. And Ground Zero for that issue is Florida, and especially south Florida's Everglades. The hospitable tropical climate and proximity to the port of Miami makes it a popular place for an array of invasive animals and plants, more than 500 in all. This lizard. Becoming more invasive. On the hunt for a new breed of python. The menace called, the lion fish. Here are some of the worst. Good morning, Department of Agriculture. [ NOISE ] Oh my goodness. This is a big snail, a very big snail. Giant African Snails are native to Africa, no surprise there. It first appears in Florida as a pet. The snail can grow longer than seven inches. Tens of thousands of snails have been confiscated in airports around the US. Which means they are like a farm ware in the wild. Don't see any, just don't see any. These snails have five hundred host plants. If they were to become established, it could devastate Florida's agriculture. They like to eat the stucco off the sides of the houses, because it contains calcium, and the calcium helps to build their shells. They also carry a parasite that can cause meningitis in human beings. Local authorities are trying to detect and remove the snails, as well as prevent more of them from coming into the U. S.. But, given the fact that they can lay 1200 eggs a year, that won't be very easy. The Brazilian pepper tree is native to South America. It was actually imported legally in Florida, in the mid 1800s as an ornamental plant. The problematic because they produce a dense canopy that shades native trees. So this is This is the one right here the Yeah, this one with these things. They can grow and just completely, you know, dominate an entire area. This little piece I cut out. It's Brazilian pepper. Hm- mm You look some places where this plant has been established for a few years. And it's the only species you'll see. And if you, you know if you stop trying to control them what happens would, would they just sort of begin to, to spread. They would just take over again become a spread, and that beautiful prairie you see out there in a few years without management and your gonna end up with again just one gigantic mass of an invasive species. Importation to plant is now banned in Florida and wild life officials have tried uprooting and destroying existing trees. But it's been laborious work. Cuban tree frogs were accidentally brought to Florida in the 1820s as hitchhikers in cargo ships. And they're problematic because they eat at least five different species of native frog, as well as lizards and small snakes. They've also been known to cause outages by chewing on power lines. Wildlife official are trying to remove the frogs that are found, but they've established themselves well in the Everglades. [ MUSIC ] Green iguanas hail from Central America and they're bought in the U. S. as pets. They're prized for their bright colors. But they thrive in the Everglades in South Florida, where they've been able to push out native lizards and insects. For three days they can lay more than 20 eggs. They've been known to live more than 20 years. There have been efforts to control them, the iguanas have been known to fight back. Whipping their tails at people, even biting. [ MUSIC ] Burmese python hails from South and Southeast Asia and can grow up to 18 feet or more. They were likely introduced by pet owners who accidentally or purposely released their pythons into the wild. [ MUSIC ] Pythons pose a danger to the Everglades because they're wiping out smaller mammals. One paper said the pythons could be eating 99 % of the raccoons in the park area. And has even gone after native alligators. And there doesn't seem to be an easy solution. Finding the pythons is incredibly hard, they can hide in the ground and don't need to eat for weeks or even months. You can see why it's difficult to catch them. They'll get into cover like this and disappear. We just wont, we won't see them. The detection rate of these things is incredibly small. The Everglades remain one of the most invaded places in the country and that's not likely going to change. But those parts of the wetlands that haven't yet been developed yet by human beings are still vibrant echo systems. The biggest challenges the Everglades will face in the future will be rising sea levels from climate change, the ever present threat of development, the onslaught of invasive species won't help. [ MUSIC ] ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Florida's Everglades: The 5 Worst Invasive Species","description":"Florida's Everglades is ground zero for the issue of invasive Species. Here are 5 of the worst","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/OTAC142S/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-07-09T18:04:14.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OTAC142S.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/OTAC142S/","duration":"PT4M40S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/OTAC142S/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```