Australia has some of the most unique and isolated natural environments in the world, with many endemic marsupials, but unfortunately, Australia's isolation also makes it more vulnerable to the destruction of alien species.
After the first European colonists brought their pets to the land in the 18th century, wars of invasive species began, including the sugar cane toad.
To address sugarcane infestation, sugarcane toads are introduced.
The sugarcane toad, also known as the giant sea toad, is a strong, large amphibian, although not comparable to the world's largest goliath frog (generally 34 cm in length), but their size can easily grow to a huge size of 25 cm, especially a toad named Prinsen, with a body length of 38 cm, and is included in the Guinness Book of Records.
Native to South and Central America, the toad was introduced to Queensland in 1935 to control the beetles that were everywhere on sugar cane plantations, starting with just 102.
At first, it seemed a good idea to use other creatures to restrain pests, but in reality, sugarcane toads and beetles hardly intersected, and beetles live on the higher stems of sugarcane plants, while sugarcane toads live on the ground and cannot jump so high to eat beetles, so they can only start looking for other foods.
Sugarcane toads may seem likely to fall prey to native predators, however, these obese amphibians have their own secret weapons.
Strong reproductive ability
How many cane toads are there in Australia?
In less than 85 years, their numbers have grown exponentially, from 102 at the beginning to an estimated 200 million.
Sugarcane toads are very productive. Fertilized female cane toads can lay 8,000 to 30,000 eggs, which are laid twice a year, hatched within 1-3 days after laying, and matured in less than 20 weeks, and can survive for 5 to 10 years in the wild after adulthood.
Strong adaptability and rapid diffusion
These tenacious toads can survive in a wide variety of habitats and eat almost anything, with small lizards, snakes, marsupials and rats, and a variety of terrestrial and aquatic animals being their food.
Sometimes they can even feed on pet food or food waste outside the home.
Not only that, but these amphibians have adapted to the local environment, are found throughout much of Australia, and appear to be moving at speeds of 50 to 60 kilometers per year.
Sugarcane toad is a delicious snack with highly toxic contents.
From eggs to adults, sugarcane toads are venomous at all stages of their lives. There are swollen parotid glands behind the eardrums on the shoulders, which is where they carry toxins, and the skin and other glands on the back are also toxic.
This is bad news for native Australian species as they haven't had time to adapt to these toad toxins.
A lick or bite can cause local animals to have a rapid heartbeat, excessive salivation, convulsions, paralysis and even death, and birds, snakes and crocodiles have always had a high mortality rate among native predators.
It is worth mentioning that the local pet dog will also lick the toad because of curiosity, and as a result, there will be limb twitches, stupid and stupid state, and the dog will not learn the lesson, and will lick it again next time, as if addicted.
One study showed that the amphibian plummeted the population density of The Australian freshwater crocodile by 77 per cent; local rangers also claimed that some birds fell from the sky and died after eating delicious sugar cane toads.
Workaround
Innovative solutions have been proposed to combat toads: using pheromones to disrupt their breeding cycles; encouraging public participation to help control populations, where 900 sugarcane toads were captured by 100 people at an event in New South Wales, and so on.
However, the effect is not ideal, and every year, toads still spring up like mushrooms after the rain.
In order to protect local species, scientists can only find ways to avoid preying on poisonous toads.
Giving local species such as monitor lizards a small dose of toxins that actively expose sugarcane toads can induce animal diseases without putting them at risk of death can let these animals know that sugarcane toads are poisonous and should be avoided.
In addition, some native animals have also learned to prey on sugarcane toads without poisoning:
The crow already knows what safe and edible parts of the toad are, including the thighs, tongue and intestines, and these clever birds will throw the toad on their backs, avoiding toxins and hollowing out their internal organs.
Similarly, some water rats know exactly how to cut through their prey, eat their hearts, and leave their toxin-filled bodies behind.