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

[ZipR]

What do they mean 'evolved'? I think that several school boards across the country will agree with me when I say that the toads did not evolve, they were 'improved' by a 'designer.'

Cane Toad documentary

[nizo]

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).

Simpsons quote

[AuMatar]

Skinner: Well, I was wrong. The lizards are a godsend.

Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?

Skinner: No problem. We simply release wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.

Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?

Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.

Lisa: But then we're stuck with gorillas! Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.

In other news...

[QuantumG]

Militants have taken over Russia! Calling themselves "Bolshivics" a group of Marxist seperatists, led by the charismatic "Lenin", recently siezed control of the city of Petrograd and fighting has spread to every other major city. Fighting in Moscow lasted about a week but has been relatively bloodless, not interrupting the opera or the ballet. Theaters, schools and government offices are still functioning but Bolshivic dominance of the Duma now seems assured.

Real story is the Ravens

[Alcimedes]

Last I'd heard nothing was eating these toads.

Nothing that is except a small population of Ravens that learned that if you flip the toads over, the bellys have no poison. As soon as one figured this out, others started to copy the behavior. Now ravens are disembowling these toads all over the place.

Now that is cool.

Re:Real story is the Ravens

[robbak]

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.

Re:Real story is the Ravens

[GaryPatterson]

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.

Re:Evolution?

[krayzkrok]

That is actually a highly relevant point. We do know that toads on the vanguard are significantly larger than those in established populations, and it may have nothing to do with evolution but rather a lot to do with population dynamics.

The toads to first colonise an area will of course be the fittest, fastest toads; these are individuals that have eaten the most, grown the best, and able to move longer distances more quickly in search of new feeding areas. The motivation to move comes from competition in existing areas, and an abundance of "resources" (ie. food, space) in uncolonised areas. Less fit competitors take longer to move into new feeding areas because they are less able to do so. As far as the toads in the "older" established populations in Queensland go, they reached carrying capacity in the environment decades ago so there are no new areas to colonise, no abudant resources to lead to monsterous toads, and generally a much smaller average size given their short generation time.

I have not read Ben's paper yet so I'm not sure whether the claims of evolution are simply media spin, but I know enough about toad population dynamics (I research toad impacts on native species) to question the assumptions made in TFA. Without knowing more about the research, the conclusions seem to be explainable through standard population models.

Re:-=M-O-D Parent D-O-W-N Please=-

[ShaneThePain]

Don't use the word "Retarded" to mean bad. Thats so gay.