Where this was said
Florida's Iguana Invasion and the Reptile Trade's Origins
At 22:20 · chapter starts 20:19
Joe Rogan pulls up YouTube videos of Florida hunters harvesting enormous male iguanas — orange-tinged, 4.5 to 5 feet long, marinated and grilled — while Eric explains that Florida is home to at least a dozen invasive reptile species, all originally pets. He corrects Rogan's assumption that common green iguanas are the only iguana worth knowing about, running through 45 species from the pink Galápagos iguana to the once-thought-extinct Jamaican iguana. [1] — Eric Goode "45 iguana species worldwide: There are approximately 45 species of iguanas in the world, many of them rare and endangered, not just the inv…" 24:29 Then Jeremy McBride sets the table for the docuseries' central story: Ray and Mike Van Nostrand of Strictly Reptiles built what was effectively an Amazon fulfillment center for exotic wildlife in Hollywood, Florida — selling 5,000 green iguanas a week at the peak of the Jurassic Park craze — a business that would evolve into a multimillion-dollar operation and eventually become a flashpoint for law enforcement, drug traffickers, and wildlife smugglers.
When Jurassic Park came out, everyone wanted a pet dinosaur. Strictly Reptiles in Hollywood, Florida was suddenly selling 5,000 green iguanas a week. Those iguanas grew up, got released, and are now falling out of trees across South Florida — a textbook case of pop culture triggering ecological disaster.
After Jurassic Park's release, the reptile supplier Strictly Reptiles in Hollywood, Florida was selling 5,000 green iguanas a week, driven by the pet dinosaur craze.
There are approximately 45 species of iguanas in the world, many of them rare and endangered, not just the invasive green iguanas found in Florida.
