Photo from Andrew Morales via Instagram
Audio By Carbonatix
Most South Floridians know the green iguana can be aggressive and territorial, so it’s best to give it and its claws a wide berth, even if it’s smaller than our posh purse puppies. But what if you ran into one the size of a small man?
If you’re Andrew Morales, also known as the Cuban Tarzan, you dive in and wrestle the behemoth like prime Steve Irwin on a croc. Morales, who works to remove invasive animals from residential areas in South Florida, recently caught what he’s calling a record-breaking iguana. And while there’s no official state record for the feat, he may have a claim solely based on the monstrosity depicted in his arms on Instagram.
“Found that in Hialeah being fed by grandmas,” one commenter quipped.
“Bro is the iguana rizzler,” another impressed user wrote.
“Careful … Godzilla is going to be upset that you are playing with his kids,” another user wrote.
The tail alone appears longer than most iguanas you’d find routinely roaming around South Florida, and its muscular legs, punctuated by bony hind claws, are pure, Freddy Krueger-esque nightmare fuel. They’re not just for show either; iguanas have been known to attack humans when threatened, according to iguanacontrol.com. They also carry salmonella and pack up to 120 razor-sharp teeth in their mouths.
Green iguanas are the scaly, prehistoric-looking reptiles that look like they just broke out of Jurassic Park. They’ve been mesmerizing and terrorizing South Florida since the 1960s, when they arrived through the pet trade.
Iguana populations have positively thrived in South Florida ever since arriving from warmer tropical climates; they’re seen regularly strutting through parks, basking on sun-soaked concrete, and perched nonchalantly on tree branches. They’re considered invasive because they’ve disrupted indigenous food chains and undermined infrastructure through burrowing, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Because of their destructive nature, Florida has declared open season on iguanas, allowing residents and wildlife wranglers like Morales to kill them year-round without a hunting license.
Morales, who hasn’t responded to New Times’ requests for an interview, posted his catch alongside the claim it broke a Florida record. And while he didn’t specify the length or weight of the catch, it appears to be larger than those caught by others who claim the title online.
Raj “The Iguana Man” made the claim in November 2022 after catching what was described as a nearly 16-pound iguana. He called it a state record on YouTube.
Another YouTuber, who goes by the Pokémon-inspired name Zak Catchem, also made the claim in November 2019 with an iguana that appears to be substantially smaller than Morales’ catch. At the time, he dubbed it a world record.
FWC doesn’t keep statistics on the largest iguanas captured and killed in the state, unlike it does for its invasive cousin, the Burmese python. However, it notes that males can grow longer than 5 feet and weigh up to 17 pounds. On the eye test, Morales’ catch appears to surpass both numbers.
