Recent News

Environment scholarship winners announced
Tuesday, September 27, 2016

The Bermuda Zoological Society has announced the recipients of this year’s Steinhoff/BZS Scholarship as Kahnae Bean, Shane Antonition and Khylah Rogers.


Rubis unveils anniversary charity promotion
Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Rubis Energy Bermuda is celebrating its tenth anniversary with the “Fuelling 4 a Cause” charity promotion.


Ocean Tech
Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Justifying Marine Protection


Turtle Tracked Traveling: Bermuda To Bahamas
Tuesday, September 27, 2016

A juvenile green sea turtle caught in Somerset Long Bay has made a successful trip to the Bahamas, with the Bermuda Turtle Project tracking the turtle over the course of its month-long journey spanning nearly 1,000 miles.


Model’s plea to save our skinks
Friday, September 23, 2016

When Mitchell Robinson was 15 his parents gave him a leopard gecko.



About

Governance
About Us
Newsletter
Latest News
Gift & Bookstore

Contact

General Inquiries

(441) 293-2727

info@bzs.bm


Latest News

All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!

Thriving brown anole threatens skink
Royal Gazette
Thursday, November 02, 2017

Jonathan Bell
Published Nov 2, 2017 at 8:00 am (Updated Nov 2, 2017 at 6:05 am)

RG_171102_1a.jpeg
The brown anole lizard in Bermuda (Photograph by James Stroud)

Bermuda’s endangered skinks are soon to cross paths with a thriving invasive species that already outnumbers the entire native population.

James Stroud of Florida International University said the brown anole lizard had been recorded “living in some of the highest densities of any terrestrial vertebrate on Earth”.

Dr Stroud’s report was shared with The Royal Gazette in the wake of an article on the lizard’s spread after the reptiles were spotted around Aberfeldy nursery in Paget.

RG_171102_1b.jpeg
The brown anole lizard in Bermuda (Photograph by James Stroud)

Other clusters of the foreign lizard were found on the grounds of Belco and a lumber yard at Mill Creek, both in Pembroke.

The report, with Sean Giery from North Carolina State University and Mark Outerbridge from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, “conservatively” estimated there were 4,000 to 5,000 of the lizards on the island — dwarfing a total skink population of 3,500.

RG_171102_1c.jpeg
Researchers on Nonsuch Island: from left, Mark Outerbridge of the Department
of Environment and Natural Resources, Sean Giery from the University of Connecticut,
and James Stroud of Florida International University (Photograph supplied)

The two species overlap “substantially” — both lizards prefer to stay on the ground, and eat the same ground-dwelling insects and spiders.

The scientists estimated that contact between the species might occur in less than ten years.

Brown anole numbers appear to reflect “an initial stage of invasion, and prior to exponential growth” — meaning the lizards could become a familiar sight around the island.

The brown anole, which is originally from the Caribbean, has spread around the world — partly because the lizards are popular as pets.