In summer, after heavy rains, toads can often be seen on the road, which is different from what we call frogs, with a large number of venom glands on the back that spew venom when in danger. Therefore, when people encounter toads, they choose to drive them away. Do you know what the most famous toad in the world is called?
Usually, as long as the animals that are beneficial to humans, they will be remembered, and the sugarcane toad is the most famous among toads, and is famous for its love of eating the pests in sugarcane. But in Australia, a major catastrophe occurred.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > sugarcane toads flooded</h1>
For a long time, Australian sugarcane farmers, plagued by sugarcane beetles, led to the destruction of local sugarcane by a large number of beetles, because the beetles have thick shells on their backs, resulting in the use of a large number of insecticides, and did not achieve any effect.
In 1935, Australian entomologists proposed the use of sugarcane toads to control the beetles in Australia's sugarcane fields, so they introduced 102 plate-sized and 2-kilogram sugarcane toads from Hawaii. So in August of that year, the sugar cane toad was released in northern Queensland.
This is the cause of the flood of sugarcane toads, which arrived in Australia, did not go straight to the sugar cane fields to eat beetles, but wandered around, and the number quickly grew to more than 1.5 billion, such a huge number, all from these 102 introduced species.
Since then, the sugarcane toad has gone from introduction to invasion and now covers more than 100 square kilometres of Australia. It turned out that the introduction of the sugarcane toad was a failed choice, not only did it fail to control the pest, but also led to becoming a pest itself. It has seriously damaged the local ecological balance.
The sugarcane toad, with such a large population in Australia with poisonous skin, has destroyed the populations of some Australian animals, where it is an invasive species. According to Australian scientists, sugar cane toads are evolving into cannibals at an alarming rate.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > cannibals! Amazing evolution of the sugarcane toad</h1>
The sugarcane toad on the list of "Australia's deadly animals" has changed, and a new study has found that the sugarcane toad is a poisonous invasive species, mainly because it can protrude venom in its mouth.
In the 86 years since it was introduced to Europe, the sugarcane toad has highly evolved into a cannibal. The biological habits of the evolved population of sugarcane toads far exceed the abilities of the sugarcane toads in their birthplace.
How did the researchers generate the evolutionary basis for this rare and extreme behavior? According to the researchers, the rate at which sugarcane toads evolved into cannibals is visible in evolution, far faster than other animals.
According to biologists, the sugarcane toad has reached the point where its greatest enemy is its own. Because its population density is so high that when it comes to competing for resources, each other is facing a strong evolutionary force, especially in Australia, so the Australian sugarcane toad is the fastest evolving.
Why did the sugarcane toad evolve into a cannibal? In fact, the so-called cannibals are not animals eating people, but refer to a general term for the behavior of animals eating their own kind.
In Australia, adult sugarcane toads can grow up to 25 cm, and sugarcane toads at this stage usually have multiple sugarcane toads, which together eat more than 99% of their cubs, which are small lives hatched by an egg they lay.
In order to prove that the Australian invading sugarcane toad has "cannibal behavior", scientists used Australian sugarcane toad pups and American sugarcane toad pups to compare, and found that Australian cane toad pups ate 2.6 times more pups than the northern and southern sugarcane toad cubs.
Many netizens believe that in order to control the number of local populations, sugarcane toads no longer multiply, eat their children, control the total number, really righteous extermination of relatives.
Why did sugarcane toads evolve into cannibals? According to the scientists' analysis, sugarcane toads evolved into cannibals, with the aim of evolving defenses against the behavior of populations that are developing too fast.
文章引用：Australia’s cane toads evolved as cannibals with frightening speed