On January 30, the Cayman Islands government flew Dr. Sandy Echternacht (ecology and evolutionary biology) to Grand Cayman Island to help identify lizards found in the bags of three German smugglers.

The National Trust for the Cayman Islands had received information that the three men were collecting live reptiles, ostensibly for academic research.

The men were kept under surveillance and detained when they arrived at the Grand Cayman airport to fly to Miami and then Berlin. Their bags contained an astonishing number of animals, 1156 lizards as well as other reptiles and amphibians, marine life -- and a collection of bromeliads, cacti, and ferns.

It took Echternach and researchers from the Trust and the government four days to document the catch.

For the past 15 years, Echternacht has researched the impact of an invasive lizard species, the brown or cuban anole, on the green anole, a species native to the southeastern U.S. Echternacht and his graduate students do additional work in the Cayman Islands, where the brown anole has also been introduced. The Trust and the Department of the Environment have provided logistical support for the project from the beginning, so officials thought of Echternacht first when they needed to quickly identify the lizards.

Echternacht found the smugglers to be surprisingly professional.

"The lizards were individually packed in plastic boxes, given water, and kept cool. I expect that the smugglers would have been able to get most of them back to Germany alive," he said, "which is unusual. In most cases, amphibians and reptiles that are being smuggled are packed tightly and receive neither food or water for long periods. Mortality can be well over 50 percent. Even those that arrive alive may not survive more than a few days."

By the evening of February 3, all the Grand Cayman animals had been released back into the wild. For the full story and photographs see The National Trust for the Cayman Islands website.

(Editor's Note: This story is based on Research Good News, a biweekly look at creative activity and research at The University of Tennessee compiled by Zoe Hoyle of the UT Office of Research.)

[Contact: Dr. Sandy Echternacht]

07-Mar-2001