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.'"

Comments

Terrible Summary

[TripMaster Monkey]

From TFA:

Cane toads (Bufo marinus) were first brought in from Hawaii in 1935 to control the spread of beetles that were ravaging Australia's sugar cane crop.

Cane toads have been a problem in Australia for a very long time now....this is hardly news.

So why is this a news story? From the TITLE of TFA:

Toxic Toads Evolve Long Legs and Take Over Australia

And from TFA:

When the toads arrived, the researchers found that those in the vanguard of the invasion had legs that were up to 6 percent longer than average; shorter-legged stragglers followed. The study showed that newer populations of toads tended to have longer legs than those in long-established populations.

This is the actual 'news', not the summary's title. Given the FIRST sentence from TFA:

Toxic toads bound across the northern tropics of Australia faster than ever, thanks to the evolution of longer legs in the few short decades since humans introduced them to their own little paradise.

...it's bewildering how the submitter could have misinterpreted the article so badly, and mystifying how the editor failed completely to catch the misinterpretation.

It's a shame that such an interesting story is derailed like this before it even gets started...the editors really do need to start reading submissions.

Re:Terrible Summary

[ceejayoz]

And that, my friends, is a beautiful first post. :-p