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A dog is licking a frog, the corners of its mouth can't stop salivating, its eyes are turned outward, and its body is trembling like a sieve, as if it wants to turn the world upside down with its tongue, like a stumbling addict.
Looking at its "frog on the tip of the tongue", far from being a harmless idle person in the field, but a toad with a brown and yellow body, a swollen body and sores all over its body. At this time it is indifferently catering to the licking of mammals ...
Soon, the movements in the dog's mouth gradually slowed down, its tongue became slow and aimless, and its eyes became free and hollow. Finally, the dog collapsed to the side, convulsing and foaming at the mouth.
And the toad jumped up and quickly disappeared without a trace...
This is not a fictional plot in some disaster movie, but a real case in Australia.
Thousands of poisonous toads jumped into the courtyard manor, and many dogs licked this invasive species from a foreign country out of curiosity, and they turned into "addicts" who could not extricate themselves, and even lost their "dog lives" in vain.
What's going on?
From "Insect Savior" to "Enemy One"
When walking your dog in Australia, if you see a toad covered in brown and black pimples, skin patterns like rotten fallen leaves, and a stubby body, you must remember to quickly stay away with the accompanying dog.
Because this toad has "poison".
This type of toad is called the giant sea toad.
Of the more than 500 members of the entire family of toads, it is relatively the largest, with the largest even exceeding 250 millimeters in length. With its swollen body, it looks like a large lucky toad at the front desk of the Welcome Hotel.
The sea toad is not native to Australia, and as an ancient species of the late Miocene, it has only been on this continent for a hundred years. Like many invasive alien species, sea toads were introduced to Australia as beneficial insects.
In the 30s of the last century, sea toads, native to Central and South America, were favored by many insect-infested areas because of their superb insect hunting ability. Several sugar-producing countries on both sides of the equator, which mainly export cane sugar, are eager to introduce it into the country.
Although this toad is huge, its insect catching speed is not vague at all, and it always seems to eat enough pests.
But after all, the toad has only two legs, and naturally there is nothing to do in the face of pests climbing high in the sugar cane. In order to fill their stomachs, the sea toads scattered and were no longer confined to a few acres of fields.
As the saying goes, "it is easy to ask God and it is difficult to send God", due to the comfortable life of eating and drinking for a long time, coupled with Australia's mild and humid climate, such as sea toads that are full of fish breed here, and the number expands rapidly in geometric multiples.
Animals in the toad family have always been known for their strong reproductive ability, and the sea toad is one of these fertility masters. According to statistics, the number of female sea toads can reach a staggering 8,000-30,000 eggs at a time.
The growth process of sea toads is also accelerated by the hot climate, and in Australia, the transition time of sea toads from tadpoles to toad larvae takes less than a month. These young toads grow rapidly in an abundant environment and become new breeding subjects...
In just six months, the number of sea toads swelled from 102 when they were first introduced to Queensland, Australia, to 60,000.
Having lost the natural enemies of the rainforests of Central and South America, they recklessly pass on their ancestry, regardless of the season, day and night, like a fertility machine launched around the clock.
As a result, in the nearly 100 years since the 30s of the last century, this loyal guardian who once defended the sugar cane fields from pests has become like a large number of alien invasion troops in "Independence Day", becoming the existence of the entire Australian enemy.
Some pessimistic forecasts suggest that there are already about 1.5 billion sea toads in Australia, equivalent to nearly 60 times Australia's 25 million native population. Their living space is also gradually infiltrating human society, from the original country sugar cane fields to the Olympic venues in Sydney, their habitat has spread throughout most of Australia.
If the sea toad relies only on its high reproductive ability, it is not enough to be listed as "one of Australia's worst environmental disasters". What is really frightening is the secretion of highly toxic neurotoxins in its body.
As a species native to Central and South America, in order to deal with hunters, the sea toad has evolved a very strong self-defense ability, the second of which is its developed poison glands.
Sea toads have two sets of venomous glands – the skin glands and the posterior ear glands.
The former is mainly distributed on the back, between raised warts. The latter is located above the tympanic membrane at the back of the eye, where a very special white toxin is secreted, which fills the predator's mouth with a hot pain and spits out sea toads.
Similar in size, the venom of sea toads is also one of the most terrifying existences in the toad family.
Its venom can enter the body through the victim's eyes, mouth and nose, causing severe pain, causing organ inflammation, and causing temporary blindness, which is likely to die on the spot if not treated in time.
What's more outrageous is that sea toads can secrete a hallucinogenic substance called "Bufotenin", which together with dopamine, adrenaline and other substances in the venom form the sea toad's secret weapon - complex natural hallucinogenic addictive venom.
And this venom is also the culprit that has caused countless dogs to become "addicts".
For dogs, the tongue is their window to the world.
In the trap carefully set by the sea toad, the dogs are defenseless and fall into a sad vicious circle: addicted to the highly toxic venom, although poisonous, they cannot restrain the desire to lick, can only paralyze in the accumulation of toxins, foam at the mouth, and cannot get up again.
There is a fearless "breaking bad"
As more and more sea toads "enter the homes of ordinary people", the number of dogs "lost" in Australia has increased rapidly, and many dog owners will find poor dogs paralyzed on the ground and spitting if they are not careful.
For a time, Australia's pet hospital beds were filled by dogs that licked sea toads by mistake.
Some of them lay dying on their hospital beds, their spirits sluggish, just like the down-and-out literati who smoked too much smoke during the Republic of China. Some are hyperactive, licking and licking, and seem to have a withdrawal reaction...
But general drug treatment can only eliminate the effects of toxins in the body, can not cure their habits of addiction to toxins, pet hospital doctors have to move out to learn from Pavlov's conditioned reflex effect to treat "addicts".
The doctors put a model wearing the skin of a toad in front of the dog, and the dog who was originally godless in his eyes instantly became energetic after seeing the toad, and hurriedly stepped forward to lick it with salivation.
The dog's tongue ran through every part of the toad's skin, and soon the spicy mustard applied to the toad model had taken effect. The dogs immediately retreated, rolling around with their tongues spicy pulling.
Later, these dogs will regain some sanity. When the medical staff delivered the toad model to the dog's mouth again, the dog would turn his head and never want to experience the spicy taste of rushing straight to the sky just now.
After such conditioning treatment, dogs can make a "spicy" conditioned reflex the next time they encounter a toad, and will no longer lick it out of curiosity.
However, this treatment is also difficult to ensure the long-term efficacy, in front of today's pervasive sea toads, it is inevitable that there will be dogs "entering the palace" and entering the "juvenile detention center" again.
Cats, dogs and other animals are the main victims of the "sea toad plague", and humans are also unable to escape the persecution of sea toads.
Just imagine, just like the classic line in "Let the Bullets Fly": eating hot pot and singing, suddenly there are two more sea toads on the table. It is indeed a little scary, and its strange ugly appearance makes many residents unbearable.
Sea toads are persecuted far more than cats and dogs. As an alien species, sea toads are the first to influence the living space of native toads.
Because of their cruel nature, sea toads rely on the poison of the dust to run amok in Australia, they crowd out the spawning habitat of native toads and devour them for nutrition. The Australian Aboriginal frog has since suffered a catastrophe.
At the same time, sea toads also prey on lizards, snakes, some small mammals and some birds. It can be said that as long as it is under its toxins, it can become a belly meal.
Even Australia's native specialty animal, the kangaroo, had to retreat in front of the sea toad.
In fantasy novels, the protagonist's "killing beyond the level" is already a common plot setting. In reality, the sea toad also has the script of the protagonist of a fantasy novel, and its poisonous targets can even include giant crocodiles hundreds of times its size.
Toads put down giant crocodiles, which are not uncommon in Australia, crocodiles have not even had time to swallow, and the toxins entangled between the lips and teeth have invaded the internal organs, killing the top hunters in this food chain.
According to expert statistics, only water rats in Australia can barely tolerate the toads while preying on sea toads, and the rest of the predators will mostly die in the vertigo caused by the toxins.
A land nightmare that cannot be eliminated
In the face of such rampant sea toads, the Australian government has also made many efforts to alleviate the "toad plague", but the results are not outstanding, like a drop in the bucket.
Australia first called on farmers to form hunting teams and use advanced hunting equipment to kill sea toads. Farmers have become "toad hunters", and officials have set up many professional hunting teams.
In addition to professional killing methods, many primitive methods are used: stepping on the feet, burning, smashing with stones... It's just that the final effect is very little, after all, no matter how fast they kill, they can't keep up with the speed of their reproduction.
If the hunt fails, is it a feasible solution to introduce the natural enemies of sea toads and biological extermination?
In fact, sea toads living in Central and South America have a number one natural enemy: American carnivorous ants. Not only are they not affected by sea toad toxins, but they also regard sea toad eggs as a top prize. If successfully introduced, it will surely become the backbone of stopping sea toads.
But the idea was also rejected for obvious reasons. Sea toads are originally invasive species, if another invasive species is introduced indiscriminately, it is still difficult to predict what irresistible consequences will occur under the chemical reaction with the Australian continent, and may become another number one enemy.
In the stillbirth of biological extermination schemes, is it feasible to "turn enemies into friends"?
Some experts believe that toxins in sea toads and their offspring can be eliminated through biological agents, allowing them to gradually transform into harmless species. However, due to many practical difficulties and various reasons, this idea was also rejected.
Can't afford to mess with or hide? Since you can't get rid of the sea toads for a while, then stay away and raise the farm fence to keep the sea toads out.
But Australians still underestimate the power of sea toads, and the reality is that no matter how high the fence is or how dense the barbed wire, sea toads can always find another way to appear on the farm unexpectedly, like a lingering nightmare in the land.
Although difficult to find effective means of prevention and control, the cruel and murderous nature of the sea toad species itself may become an unexpected means of prevention and control.
Studies have shown that sea toads have internecine phenomena within populations. Sea toads lick venom applied by other toads on their eggs, which is converted into nutrients that feed themselves. In order to scramble for spawning grounds, sea toads attack and devour their kind, so that they not only have spawning grounds, but also secrete more venom to protect the egg masses.
The process of egg hatching and tadpoles growing into young toads is also the most serious period of internal struggle in sea toads.
For the tadpoles that hatch first, in order to get rid of the fate of being swallowed by large tadpoles as soon as possible and grow and develop rapidly, it must hurry up to eat, and the eggs around it that have not yet hatched are its best food source. The same is true for large tadpoles, which must also eat as many young tadpoles as possible to speed up their own growth in order to avoid being swallowed by young toads.
Therefore, under this extremely cruel "involution", the expansion of the sea toad population has been greatly suppressed, and almost most of the eggs and larvae have become the belly of the strong in the rules of the law of the jungle.
However, even so, the population size of the sea toad is still extremely large, and its terrifying reproductive ability can be imagined.
How to find the best of both worlds in the "plague of toads"?
Australia still needs to work to find the answer to this question.
From phoenix-eyed lilies to Fushou snails, from lionfish to sea toads, more and more tragic cases caused by invasive species have sounded the alarm for mankind. In a time when ecological balance is facing unprecedented challenges, reverence for nature and respect for species diversity is the way to go.