Slashdot Mirror
Toxic Toads Taking Over Australia
An anonymous reader writes "Yahoo News is reporting that toxic toads imported from Hawaii to help control the beetle population that was ravaging Australia's sugar cane crops have instead become pests themselves. From the article: 'The toads can grow as large as dinner plates and weigh up to 4.5 pounds. Their heads and backsides are studded with rows of warts that secrete a milky white toxin called bufotoxin. Because Australia has no native toads, many native predators such as snakes, lizards and mammals are very sensitive to the toxin. So when the toads spread, they immediately kill off many of the region's top predators.'"
Cane Toads is a great documentary about these little beasties. Not only does it give a good overview of the cane toad saga in Australia, but it also includes interviews with some really bizarre people (the guy imitating the mating calls of the cane toad is particularly amusing).
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
I first lernt about this from the simpsons
Homer: Hey, look! Those frogs are eating all their crops.
from Bart vs. Australia
When all else fails, try.
No. Not really.
Nearly no intelligent designer writes off evolution. They write off evolution being able to produce entirely new species altogether.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
This is not news that there are toads Australia. The article is about the toads growing longer legs. Clearly not many people have actually read the article...
There are no toads that you can lick to get high -- it's the venom that contains 5-MeO-DMT, an analogue of DMT. DMT is one of the most powerful psychedlic substances in existence, endogenous to the human brain and synthesized in the pineal gland. It's a distinct possible that DMT release is responsible for such crazy, life-altering near-death experiences reported by people who have nearly died.
5-MeO-DMT is not as visual as DMT, but is still an extremely powerful trip. Check out Erowid. Venom for smoking is best extracted from Bufo alvarius though, found largely in the southwestern United States. While the Australian toads are part of the bufo genus, they are not quite the correct species from which to extract the venom (a turkey baster in the mouth is the way to go).
Not an Aussie, but as I understand it, these are the toads that you can lick and get a sore throat.
However, Australians have been known to take this species of frog, kill it, dry the skin, and smoke it. This will get you high. See previous anonymous poster's link to erowid.
Best,
Paul
The toxic mixture present in Bufo cane toads contains up to 15% 5-MeO-DMT
I don't think this is correct. It is Bufo alvarius which does have this hallucinogenic venom.
Coming from Brisbane (capital of Queensland), I am referred to as a 'Cane Toad' as are all Queenslanders, a slightly better nickname than our southern brothers from New South Wales who have the 'Cockroaches' predicate, Victorians are known as 'VWs' (Victorian Wankers). There is only 1 known predator that can handle the Cane toad and that is the native Crow, it has learned (clever little buggar) to flick the toad on its back and go for the belly, thereby avoiding the poison glands on the back, I would be tempted to say 'Go the Crows', but I'm from Brisbane, not Adelaide ;)
You never catch me alive
Actually, several native species are beginning to target the Cane Toad.
Ric Nattrass, in his Wildlife Talkback radio segment (search on abc.net.au for more), often recieves reports about various birds and other animals beginning to eat toads.
Personally, we have native White-Tailed Rats that catch toads in our pond, and eat their insides, leaving a neatly-cleaned skin and skeletal parts behind.
So, although all is not lost, it takes some time, and many species are wiped out before they work out either how to eat them or to leave them alone. When they reach Kakadoo, it is going to be a disaster, but no one has any way to prevent it.
Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
When I first saw this on /. I was thinking "have we learned nothing..." Then I RTFCs and saw that this mistake was made in 1935. That puts it in the great run of eco-mistakes like mongooses to Hawaii, rose bushes to West Virginia, and Kudzu all over the south.
Sure, there will be a new harmonious balance of nature eventually. We generally don't like it. And we pretty much never like the intervening period before the new balance emerges.
"But all your emitter and collector are belong to me!"
But all is not lost! Us sport-obsessed Australians have developed numerous new past-times with these wonderful beasts! There's Cane Toad Golf, the time honoured past time of wandering fields with a driver and rather than wasting good golf balls, working on your swing and ridding a national pest at the same time! Cane Toad Cricket, very similar to golf, but with a cricket bat. Not quite as much fun. Then there's Cane Toad racing, which I think will be hugely benifited by the increase in leg size - however will this invalidate the old records set by shorter-legged toads of yore?
Indeed, it's not like Australia has a shortage of lethal animals. In practice its largely because Australia has been fairly successfully isolated for a long time and the flora and fauna smply aren't adapted to deal with the introduced species. You'll find exactly the same sorts of problems in New Zealand, and, in fact, in the US if you introduce the wrong species.
Jedidiah.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
T"azmania is an Island State to the south of Australia."
No, it isn't. Tasmania is an island south of Australia. Tazmania describes a bipolar cartoon character when he's not depressed.
Yup, very bad title, since Cane Toads have been around for so long... but you all knew that already. I'm a PhD student studying evolutionary biology so I'd like to comment on the evolutionary aspects of the story. Specifically, the claim the that the long-leggedness of the toads on the forefront of the migration demonstrates evolution. This idea, of course, makes sense because legs are likely to help with dispersal. But, whether this will cause evolution or not depends on at least two factors: 1) Is leg length genetically controlled? If it's environmental, in that toads with better luck (i.e. found lots of juicy worms as a youngin') then leg length cannot be passed on so there's no evoution. I'll have to read the nature paper to find out what the authors said about this. 2) The long legged toads must have a disproportionate contribution to the gene pool of future generations. However, this story notes that the short legged toads start to arrive eventually. Interestingly, we actaully have some evidence to suggest that the long legged toads could have this advantage. In Estoup et al's 2004 paper in Evolution (Vol 58, Iss 9) it is shown that founders of new toad populations (possibly long legged toads?) actually have a very large contribution to the gene pool in comparison to later arrivals (the short legged toads?). This would make sense given that these early founders will be able to arrive early and breed often. Thus, they would gain a fitness advantage for being long legged. But, as far as the story goes we have none of this information.
Uh, it's not very easy to genetically modify a tomato to produce extra vitamins (something people very much want to do), let alone giing a toad a self-destruct button. If you do manage to engineer something of the sort your likely to A) have a defective toad that won't get out of the starting gate, or B) the that trait will be lost due to selective forces in the wild. Part of the reason genetic engineering works is that we do it for crop plants or domestic animals for which we control the environment. Further, it's just a bad idea to introduce anything into nature, especially genetically modified organisms (we are having enough problem with resistance gene spill over from crop plants as it is), because the consequences are completely unpredictable. Lastly, our ability to genetically modify organisms is extremely overblown by the media, the process is both much harder and mush cruder than most people imagine.
Wouldn't those in the vanguard have longer legs because those with longer legs put them in the vanguard?
Yes, this brings up a good point. THere are basically two underlying, not necessarily exlusive evolutionary explanations:
1. The first toads had some variation in leg length. Now only the ones with long legs are found at the vanguard.
2.Some time since they were introduced, mutation(s) have occured given longer legs. These traits have then been strongly selected for.
Clearly 1. is part of the explanation, that is self-evident. The question is then if new mutations have been involved as well. I just read the Nature paper, and it does present some evidence that 2. is at least partially at work. In particular, the "toad front" has accelerated a lot; in the 50s and 60s it moved at some 10km's per year, now it moves at 50km per year. If 1. Also, when they looked at some old specimens in vats they had much shorter legs than the modern toads near the front.
Tor
Man I hate cane toads. They are ug-a-leee little mofos. They hide in the daytime and come out at night, so you go walking around in the grass and something moves nearby, and Yikes, it's one of those little buggers. They're big and squashy and creepy looking, like atom bomb mutants from a 50s sci-fi movie. And fearless. Stomp your feet at them and they hop toward you, not away, and I've heard that they bite. The up side is that they really aren't poisonous unless you try to eat one (which is why the predators don't fare too well), or possibly if you manage to touch one without getting bit and then you ate something without washing your hands.
Sounds good, but these things are *tough*
I've seen one hit with a golf club, fly a fair distance and smack into a tree only to crawl off. They have been run over by cars and survived.
A whacking day won't kill them. A *chopping* day might.
Darwin never came up with a "tree of life", that was Linnaeus and no one follows that anymore anyway. I think BobTheLawyer said it better than I could. If you want to see macroevolution in action, read The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner - very good book. Most biologists don't decouple micro- and macro- evolution, that might be an ID aspect in itself. There really is no difference, and yes, both can be seen. A toad will never turn into a walrus, no scientist will ever say it can.
No one ever said that evolution is easy - there's a reason why it's usually a 400 level class, and I recently took a class actually entitled Macroevolution that is graduate level. This stuff takes intense knowledge about both biology and geology, something I am just beginning, but most people who speak like macroevolution "doesn't add up" probably aren't studying the details. And like I said, the Cambrian Explosion might be taphonomic, rather than biological. It could have been more gradual than anyone thought. Studying the fossil record requires geology, not just biology, and taphonomic (preservational or depositional) bias is a big part of that. Also, there were plenty of critters around before the Cambrian explosion - the Burgess shale fauna for one, and shelly faunas after that. It wasn't as big of an explosion as we previously thought.
As a local to the region the Cane Toads were introduced (Cairns) I can assure you the Daintree has had them for decades. The Daintree is only about 120 miles north of Cairns and I can remember as a child back in the 70's seeing them at Cape Tribulation (another 40 miles north of Daintree).
... the humane way, and the FUN way.
You may be thinking of Darwin about 2000 miles west of Cairns which has only just started getting them in the last few months.
There are 2 ways to kill cane toads
The humane way involves bagging then freezing them. Which many dont like doing for obvious reasons.
The fun way involves either playing chicken with them on the roads (the toads rarely win against most cars, however those smaller buzzboxes may flip at high speeds). On some the main highway there can be "splatters" of toads as close as a metre appart, and on a 15mi stretch of road thats ALOT of toads and the smell when the sun comes out to dry them is spectacular.
The other fun way if you have nasty neighbors involves practicing your golf swing by slicing them up onto your neighbors roof. Be warned however, beurocracy and stupidity have once again reared their heads with the RSPCA (like the ASPCA of the US) is calling for maximum penalties against those found inhumanely treating toads (golf clubs, etc) this carries a maximum $100,000 penalty IIRC.
It will be impossible to eradicate the Cane Toads except through a biological means (virus/bacteria genetically targetting them) as their population is beyond comprehension. At any one time during a downpour there could be up to 50 toads in one yard, there are over 100,000 yards in Cairns alone (say 40 sq mi area) and that doesnt include the "bush" which easily covers the whole area of Queensland (about 666,000sq mi) and on into Northern Territory. So you can easily see that they could easily number into the tens or hundreds of millions.
For those interested in what this article claimed to be about (from the post), might I suggest a few people with a sense of humor, a case of beer, and this.
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
Snakes in Queensland (where the toad was first introduced) have increased in length by 3-5% since the toad arrived. The theory is that the longer the snake, the greater the body mass, the better it can handle the toxin.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/enviro/EnviroRe publish_1250708.htm
I also remember reading somewhere about smaller heads in relation to body size thus limiting the size of the toad consumed and the amount of poison ingested.
I can tell you this is really really old news, the CSIRO Australia's premier scientific research body has been focused on the control of foreign pests for many decades. Australia is a unique land, during the ice age (40,000 years ago) it was connected to asia since then it has been cut off from the rest of the world. It has many unique species of flora and fauna, most of which are almost completely defenceless to foreign species such as cane toads, foxes, pigs, rabbits, fire ants etc etc. It's the reason why we have such strict quarintine laws and customs inspections, and why many here go by the moto "If it's feral it's in peril".
(Damn the lameness filter!)
First, an introduction.
Cane Toads (Bufos Marinas?) are an obnoxious, brown, warty type of frog (OK, toad) that inhabit vast areas of Australia. Their introduction and proliferation in Australia is a classic example of ecology gone wrong. In the beginning, there were no cane toads in Australia. Sugar cane was introduced to its fair shores, along with the sugar cane came the cane beetle, a nasty, brown insect about 3/4 inch long.
"How do we stop the cane beetle," ask the scientists, "the little fuckers are eating all our sugar cane."
"Ahhh," says someone clever, "Why not look around the world to see what eats cane beetles, then introduce them into Australia and the problemo is solved!"
Wrong.
They found a natural predator in the cane toad, which came from Hawaii of all places. In 1935, 55 pairs (as in 110) cane toads were released in the small North Queensland town of Gordonvale. Unfortunately, Australia did not have any predators that liked to eat the toads, probably due to the poison glands on the back of their neck. Similarly, the cane toads found that there was much more interesting and tasty stuff to eat than boring old cane beetles.
The result was a plague of biblical proportions.
As a consequence, every man, woman and child living north of Sydney has grown up knowing the extreme pleasure of killing cane toads. Motorists swerve to hit them, cricketers hoist them for a six (equivalent of home run for you 'Merkins) over the boundary, weekend gardeners chase them down with a lawn mower.
The following, is some of the many varied ways I have dispatched these nasty little buggers while I lived in Queensland. Perhaps some other Aussies can add to the list, what about you Hawaiians out there?
THE THONG SLAP (TS)
The Thong Slap (TS) is not fatal to a cane toad, but is an important component of many of the other means of disposal. To perform a TS, one quickly removes their thong (rubber, sandal-like footwear) and slaps a toad hard on the head. This stuns the toad and stops it from hopping all over the place.
DEATH BY CLUBBING
#1) Take golf clubs out into the back yard, usually only a 2-wood, 6-iron and 9-iron. Find a toad and dispatch with club of your choice. If the toad is sitting upright, use the driver. Extra points are
awarded for lofted shots over the house and on to the street. Hitting a "slice" tends to result in separate pieces of toad.
#2) Take a field hockey stick and dispatch as above. Remember not to raise the head of the stick above shoulder height, otherwise a penalty may ensue.
#3) Using a cricket stump, first smash the toad with the blunt end, then reverse the stump and impale it with the pointed end. Shake the toad off the pointed end and repeat if necessary.
DEATH BY GARDEN TOOL
A special class devoted to common garden tools. Favorite tools are the shovel (hit with flat side, then chop up with blade), the mattock (chopping only), the pitch fork (see how many you can collect) and the
axe (slice and dice).
DEATH BY SPORTING EQUIPMENT
Another special class, covering those instruments not involved with clubbing. Some nice effects can be gained with tennis rackets (small toads only - great for perfecting that two-handed backhand), darts
(nothing like a moving bullseye) and football boots.
DEATH BY SLICING AND CHOPPING
#1) Take you mother's best carving knife outside and see if you *really* can throw it like a Bowie knife.
#2) After performing a TS, flip the toad over and use an Xacto knife to practice your vivisection techniques. See how much you can remove and still get the toad to hop away.
#3) Perform TS, throw toad into the air and try to hit with a machete. More points are awarded if the pieces are equal in size.
DEATH BY SQUASHING
#1) One of my all-time faves: Perform a TS, then throw the toad out onto a bust street. Bet with friends how many cars will miss it before it goes POP.
#2) Go to the local cricket field late