Take a safari through Florida's 500 nonnative species

09:43

September 22, 2023

Vervet monkeys Higgins, left, and Andor fight playfully atop a car in the Park 'N Fly parking lot which lies adjacent to the swampy mangrove preserve where the monkey colony lives, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, in Dania Beach, Fla. For 70 years, a group of non-native monkeys has made their home next to a South Florida airport runway, delighting visitors and becoming local celebrities. (Rebecca Blackwell/AP)

Florida has more than 500 nonnative species— more than any other state in the country.

In July, Vox reporter Benji Jones spent a week in Florida on what he’s called an “invasive species safari." Essentially, he traveled all around the state, from Tampa and Naples to Miami and Fort Lauderdale, searching for nonnative animals — and he found them. Vervet monkeys near an airport in Fort Lauderdale, chameleons in a neighborhood outside of Fort Myers, blue and gold macaws just minutes from his hotel in Miami — and the list goes on.

Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd speaks with Jones about what he learned in the process of tracking these animals who, frankly, were never meant to be near a Publix grocery store.

The Cuban tree frog is native to — you guessed it — Cuba and a handful of other Caribbean islands. (Courtesy of Benji Jones)

An Argentine black and white tegu is seen in Florida. The large lizard is native to South America. (Courtesy of Benji Jones)

This segment aired on September 22, 2023.

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