India, Oct. 29 -- There's a small reptile that looks like a baby alligator somewhere in the Florida Everglades, living far from its home in Central and South America. That's the story of the spectacled caiman. According to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers news release, caimans have been established in Florida since the 1970s and were spotted there as early as the 1950s. The release includes a study from the University of Florida about how scientists got them out of parts of the Everglades.

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service risk screening summary helps explain how it all began. When trade in baby American alligators became illegal, the pet industry resorted to importing thousands of baby caimans instead. It began in the 1950s and continued i...