On September 18, 2008, Congress passed important “No Child Left Inside” legislation that will fund environmental education programs at a national level. As Vice President of the Ecological Society of America overseeing the portfolio of education and human resources, Dr. Lowman worked with the ESA policy staff to create this press release last year. It was based on an earlier editorial that Lowman wrote in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment in fall 2006.

Video segment from SNN about the problem with invasive reptiles locally, with footage from the recent Invasive Reptile Workshop organized by Dr. Lowman here in Sarasota. Video of the talks at the workshop are available here.

From Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

Rounding up invasive reptiles
By CATHY ZOLLO

The signs of an iguana takeover are scattered across Manasota Key.

They strip the fruit from the sea grape trees and chew the leaves. Gone are the little brown anole lizards — themselves an introduced species — that used to scurry over the ground, and iguana tracks lead down gopher tortoise burrows.

Black spiny-tailed iguanas, known for their speed and voracious appetite, are threatening native animals, reptiles and birds — a sign of Sarasota County’s growing problem with invasive reptiles that escaped from the pet trade, gained a foothold in South Florida and are now heading north in greater numbers.

Burmese pythons and monitor lizards have also been sighted in Sarasota County.

Full article

Suzanne writes:

Hello Meg, just a brief note to say thank you for an outstanding outing last Saturday at Red Bug Slough. Your students were terrific and actually give me renewed hope for the future of this country. I was thrilled to find out that the Virginia Creeper that I brought for your identification is something that can be easily kept under control on our cabbage palms here at Mira Lago.
If you have a mailing list for your talks and activities, I would very much like to be included on it. All my best, Suzanne

In 2007, Dr. Lowman was featured on the May 31st episode of A Gulf Coast Journal on PBS.  Here is that segment:

You can watch the full episode online here.  From Google Video:

Treetop Traveler: Most of her career has been up in the air–and with good reason. Meg Lowman—a.k.a. Canopy Meg—is a pioneer tree canopy scientist. For 20 years, Meg has traveled the world climbing trees to study the health of our environment from above. Meet this amazing author, educator, adventurer and single mom who helped design Myakka River State Park’s scenic canopy walkway so others can see nature from her point of view.

ABC 7 News did a segment about Ricardo’s visit to Sarasota and the Earth Day festival in April 2008. (Read more)

Below is feedback Dr. Lowman has received regarding her column in the Herald-Tribune: An iguana in every pot.  Some of the feedback will be followed by Dr. Lowman’s responses.

Don from Venice writes:

Meg, I have suggested to Irwin Starr that we ask the Sara Bay club, our new venue for the Roundtable, to consider putting Iguana Stew on their menu for us. All this being contingent on you being kind enough to snare one for us and get it to their kitchen in time for whatever needs to be done. I thought this was the least I could do inasmuch as Python seems to be out of the question. I did have a Florida panther (juvenile) cross the street near this house during my walk last week. Panther pie entered my mind until the youngster stopped and gave me a look that changed my mind. Just trying to help.

George writes:

Darn! They’re not kosher! (Great article.)

Kent writes:

I enjoyed reading your column last week about the solution to Florida’s iguana infestation. I have never eaten iguana BUT I’m finally writing the email I *intended* to send when I read your Aug 11 article about python infestation.

I’ve been travelling to and working in Thailand since 1990. I’ve eaten some interesting things there…ant eggs, live “jumping” shrimp, horseshoe crab eggs, water beetle essence (actually in lots of Thai curries), most organ meats, and plenty of fried grasshoppers (a great bagged snack, especially when hanging out at bars frequented by tourists).

I’ve drawn the line at brain and drinking snake’s blood.

But in the early 90’s I visited a “jungle restaurant” in Chiang Mai a few times and one exotic meat really stood out. It wasn’t the cobra…a black meat served in sausage patties because it has lots of fishlike bones. It was yellow python. I liked that one so much I returned about 6 months later and had it again.

Python was, hands down, one of the best meats I’ve tasted. A thick, tender piece of white meat a little firmer than fish (I’d compare it to swordfish) and a bit more delicate than pork tenderloin.

Actually, the swordfish comparison is pretty good. Both times I had it the same way “gratiam prik thai” which is a pan fried Thai dish style based on “garlic black pepper.”

The snake was cut into a section about 5″ long…join your thumbs and middle fingers together in an “O” and it was a bit bigger than that. They used a big snake so it was like a chateaubriand in size.

But what amazed me is that, once the snake is cleaned there’s nothing there but meat__Lots of meat__and a few large bones that just fell right out (like they do in tender pork ribs). The skin also fell right off, just like swordfish.

I’ve eaten alligator many times in Florida…tough and chewy for the most part. And anything deep fried…well what’s not to like? (-:

Python is much better, much more delicate and downright tasty! I could only find one python eater online here http://www.beastfeaster.co.uk/2008/04/how-to-cook-python-fangers-and-mash.html but I can tell you looking at his fillets that the Vietnamese sent him a measly python. He also said it was chewy, which was totally unlike my experience.

So, another non-native Florida animal infestation solved…with the right cooking class!

With best regards,

Kent

PS - My wife is Thai. Her food rule is that she won’t eat things that eat people…so no shark or alligator! When we moved back to the states we sought out some unusual (to me, anyhow) organ meats; pig intestine, which I don’t really care for and veal kidney. Veal kidney is amazing, at least the way she prepares it.

The funny thing is that when we first got here in 1995 the local stores considered veal kidney a “trash meat”…you know, for feeding your pets. It was 50 cents a pound and a cheap delicacy (like lobsters in the 18th century New England jails). But don’t you know that when the butchers figured out people ate it the price skyrocketed by more than 1,000%. Now that most food stores don’t butcher the whole animal we can only find veal kidney as special order frozen for $6+ per pound.

So let’s stock up on python steaks before you put the word out! (-;

Kent,
Thanks for your wonderful convictions about the art of eating sustainably! I am thrilled to get your input on python consumption — and perhaps you should publish a recipe book for invasive species? Florida certainly has a growing problem (no pun intended) and it would be great if folks collectively could work to thwart these exotics before they become ridiculously expensive to control.
Happy cuisine,
Meg