Cool Animal of the Week #9- The Cane Toad

A cane toad. Picture by Tim Laman.

The Cane Toad (Rhinella marina) is native to South America, however it is most well known for the havoc they have caused in Australia. Cane toads were introduced into Australia in the 1930s as biological control for the cane beetles that were destroying the sugar cane crops. It turned out that cane toads didn't like the cane beetles and were a poor choice biological control. On the other hand, cane toads are very successful breeders and have now become a pest and nuisance in their own right. Part of their success is due to the fact that cane toads will eat anything, alive or dead. In addition, cane toads produce poison, which the predators in Australia are not adapted to, and thus are not able to keep the cane toad population in check, unlike in the cane toads' native territory. 

Here is a video that goes into much more detail about cane toads, split into 5 parts. It's actually quite entertaining (otherwise it wouldn't make it onto this blog!). My favorite part is where the little girl has a pet cane toad- that is in part 4.