这些巨大的入侵蜥蜴正在乔治亚州啃食食物

这些巨大的入侵蜥蜴正在乔治亚州啃食食物

Beware the tegu.

一定要小心泰格斯。

With a name that sounds like it could be Godzilla's enemy of the week, this ravenous reptile is on a rampage in the American South. Georgia, in particular, is feeling the impact of the tegu, thanks to its undiscriminating and relentless appetite.

这个名字听起来像是哥斯拉本周的敌人，这只贪婪的爬行动物在美国南部横冲直撞。格鲁吉亚尤其感受到了泰格斯的影响，这要归功于它不加区别的、无情的胃口。

In fact, Georgia's Department of Natural Resources issued a plea this month asking anyone who spots a tegu to report it immediately.

事实上，格鲁吉亚的自然资源部门在这个月发出了一项请求，要求任何发现泰格斯的人立即报告。

"It has become established as an exotic invasive species in several sites in south Florida, and we now believe in the Toombs and Tattnall counties of Georgia," explains John Jensen of Georgia DNR. "We're trying to remove them from the wild because they can have negative impacts on our native species."

乔治亚州DNR的约翰·詹森解释说:“在南佛罗里达的几个地方，它已经被认定为外来入侵物种，我们现在相信是在乔治亚州的图姆布县和塔特纳尔县。我们正试图将它们从野外清除，因为它们会对我们的本土物种产生负面影响。”

Specifically, they're Argentine black and white tegus, but despite the name, they're native to many parts of South America,including Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

具体来说，它们是阿根廷黑白相间的泰格斯，但尽管名字如此，它们原产于南美洲的许多地方，包括巴西、巴拉圭和乌拉圭。

Besides being hardy and possibly even more cold tolerant than other reptiles, what makes tegus especially dangerous is their gift for multiplying. On average, females lay carrying clutches of about 30 eggs.

除了比其他爬行动物可能更耐寒之外，让泰格斯特别危险的是它们繁殖的天赋。平均而言，雌性生下的卵大约有30个。

And all of those eggs stand a good chance of growing up to become habitat-mulching machines.

所有这些卵都很有可能长大成为覆盖它们的机器。

"They eat just about anything they want — plant and animal matter," Jensen explains. "One of their favorite foods are eggs from ground-nesting animals such as gopher tortoises."

“它们想吃什么就吃什么——植物和动物，”詹森解释说。“他们最喜欢的食物之一是来自地面筑巢动物的蛋，比如地鼠龟。”

That's particularly bad news since gopher tortoises — the only land tortoise native to the Southeast — is considered a keystone species. In other words, the species carries the weight of an entire ecosystem on its slender shoulders. Removing the gopher tortoise from Georgia's long-leaf pine forests could spell the collapse of the entire ecosystem.

这是一个特别坏的消息，因为gopher龟——东南部唯一的陆地龟——被认为是关键物种。换句话说，这个物种在它纤细的肩膀上承载着整个生态系统的重量。从乔治亚州的长叶松林中移走地鼠龟可能意味着整个生态系统的崩溃。

To add insult to injury, tegus routinely kick gopher turtles out of their burrows and make them their own.

雪上加霜的是，泰格斯经常把地鼠龟从洞里踢出来，让它们自己待着。

Concern is running so high, wildlife officials are even encouraging people to take more drastic measures when spotting them.

人们的担忧如此之高，野生动物保护官员甚至鼓励人们在发现它们时采取更严厉的措施。

"If you're able to safely and humanely dispatch the animal, we encourage that and we want that information too," Jensen says.

詹森说:“如果你能够安全、人道地处理动物，我们鼓励这样做，我们也希望得到这样的信息。”

Other conservation groups put it more bluntly.

其他保护组织说得更直白。

"Tegus seen in Georgia can and should be shot on sight," the Orianne Society notes in a Facebook post.

“在乔治亚州看到的泰格斯可以而且应该被当场枪毙，”奥里安协会在脸书上写道。

The Argentine tegu probably got its start in the southern U.S. as an exotic pet. (Photo: Creative Stock Studio/Shutterstock)

When they're not feasting on the eggs of Georgia's official state reptile, tegus enjoy everything from quail and chicken eggs to fruit, vegetables, plants, and even pet food. They won't say no to the occasional grasshopper or baby gopher tortoise either.

不吃乔治亚州官方爬行动物的蛋时，泰格斯喜欢吃各种东西，从鹌鹑蛋、鸡蛋到水果、蔬菜、植物，甚至宠物食品。它们也不会对偶尔出现的蚱蜢或小地鼠龟说不。

Fortunately, they draw the line at humans. It's not like you're going to be surprised by one of these mini-monsters in the forest anyway. At about 4 feet long and speckled with tell-tale black-and-white spots or bands, don't exactly blend in with the foliage.

幸运的是，它们与人类划清了界限。无论如何，你不会对森林里的这些小怪物感到惊讶。它身长约4英尺(约1.54米)，身上有明显的黑白斑点或条纹，与树叶并不完全融合。

Jensen notes that they're often mistaken for young alligators that have wandered far from their watery homes.

詹森指出，它们经常被误认为是远离水乡的幼年短吻鳄。

Besides, tegus probably have humans to thank for introducing them to this Southern smorgasbord. The tegu invasion is being blamed entirely on exotic pet owners who release them into the wild once they grow too big to handle.

除此之外，泰格斯可能还得感谢人类，是他们把泰格斯介绍给了这种南方自助餐。泰格斯的入侵被完全归咎于外来宠物的主人，一旦它们长得太大无法控制，他们就会把它们放归野外。

"When these lizards get too large, people just release them," Chris Jenkins of the Orianne Society tells Garden & Gun magazine.

“当这些蜥蜴长得太大时，人们就会释放它们，”欧里安学会的克里斯·詹金斯告诉《花园与枪》杂志。

The good news is the tegu invasion is still in its infancy — at least in Georgia — meaning there's a chance to turn back these hungry marauders.

好消息是，泰格斯的入侵仍处于初期阶段——至少在格鲁吉亚是这样——这意味着有机会击退这些饥饿的掠夺者。

"If we are aggressive with control efforts, we can still hope to eradicate them fully," Georgia DNR biologist Daniel Sollenberger tells Garden & Gun.

“如果我们积极采取控制措施，我们仍然可以希望完全根除它们，”乔治亚州DNR生物学家丹尼尔·索伦伯格告诉花园与枪。

But the real solution to the tegu menace begins at home.

但是真正解决泰格斯威胁的方法是从国内开始的。

"There are reptile adoption groups that may take it and try to find it a home," Jensen says. "Releasing it into the wild is the absolute worst thing to do."

詹森说:“有些爬行动物收养组织可能会收养它，并试图给它找到一个家。把它放回野外绝对是最糟糕的事情。”