Croc Numbers Collapsing In N. Australia - Invasive Cane Toads Lethal Meal For Reptiles

[hatrack]

In a contest between a toad and a crocodile, it seems obvious the croc will win. Not, though, if its adversary is a cane toad – the poisonous pests laying waste to Australian wildlife.

Researchers have found that, in some waterways in the Northern Territory, numbers of freshwater crocodiles have more than halved over the past two years. The reason is cane toads, which are fatal when eaten.

Professor Keith Christian, from Charles Darwin University, said: "A recent survey on the Victoria river showed that in a one-year period as many as 77 per cent of the crocodiles have died as a result of eating cane toads," he said.

EDIT

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/crocodiles-wiped-out-by-invasion-of-the-toxic-toads-1024602.html

[aquart]

1. Toad power!

The problem here is the crocodiles inability to learn and teach their young.

[Crunchy Frog]

7. The problem is with humans putting species where they haven't evolved

and don't belong. Invasive, non-native species are a big problem in a lot of places. This is just a particularly dramatic example.

[BOSSHOG]

2. Mother Nature at work, but I hope

the Cane Toad does not somehow find its way to the Gulf of Mexico. We have a very substantial crop of Alligators along and in the Bayous in South Mississippi and South Louisiana. Some can be found as north as South Arkansas.

[grasswire]

3. it's a good thing to have a crop of alligators?

Do tell. I would consider them a horrible nuisance.

[BOSSHOG]

5. They can be a nuisance

often getting out on the interstate and hosing up traffic. Occasionally attacking a human in a swampy area. But as an old man back in the bayou told me they are not in our backyard, we are in their backyard. Each year a part of the population is harvested and believe it or not they do taste like chicken but much tougher. And they hibernate for a lengthy period of the year. I'd much rather get rid of Nutria then any alligators. Nutria are a large rat like rodent who spends its life eating the greenery on the gulf shoreline.

[hatrack]

6. And let's not forget the great job nutria do in digging millions of holes in levee walls & roadways

Another bright idea - "Hey! Let's import this big burrowing rodent and farm it! What could possibly go wrong?!?"

[XemaSab]

10. Right up there with

"Let's import rabbits so we can hunt them!"

"Let's import house sparrows to control a caterpillar outbreak!"

"Let's import all the birds in Shakespere!" (Ironically, starling populations in Europe are collapsing.)

[Dead_Parrot]

13. It's only a meme.

[Mojorabbit]

9. I love alligators

I think they are just beautiful. I live on a lake and spend summers on the dock near sunset just to see the couple of alligators we have cruise just under the surface of the water looking for food. Now snapping turtles are another story. We have a gazillion of them and I would not mind seeing their population decrease a bit.

[Barrett808]

8. Not exactly Mother Nature -- cane toads were introduced by humans...

...to control the cane beetle. This didn't work, and the toads have since become quite an ecological nuisance.

[juno jones]

11. I think the cane toad was brought over to OZ from FL

It's been a few years since I saw it but 'Cane Toads, an Unnatural History' is now out on DVD.

Perhaps alligators know better than to eat the toads, which do not seem to pose the danger here as they do there.

[Barrett808]

12. Nice avatar!

Gotta get me one of those. PRAZE "BOB"!

[juno jones]

17. Thanks! Go ahead and steal it from me!

Just like I stole it from somebody else back during the primary season! :P

[Crunchy Frog]

14. I think they were actually brought to Florida from South America.

The Florida ecosystem seems to be a bit more resilient than the Australian one though.

That's cool that it's out on DVD. That's a really neat movie.

[juno jones]

15. You're probably right

and it's been ages since I saw the film.

I'll never forget scene with the cane toads having wild sex with roadkill toads. It's burned into my brain. :P

[Crunchy Frog]

18. I liked the scene with the little girl who was using the cane toad as a doll.

So sweet! :loveya:

[juno jones]

19. I remember that

She'd named it something really sweet like 'Buttercup'. And it repayed the love by not squirting venom on her.

Can we get an AWWWWWWWWW? :loveya:

BTW: love your username :hi:

[Crunchy Frog]

20. She called it "Dairy Queen".

And there was this really sweet song about cane toads playing in the background. :loveya:

[Warpy]

4. Australia needs to import more dopers

Local hippies have been drying cane toad venom and smoking it for a high.

So far, that's the only predator that survives the encounter.

The greatest irony of all is that this species of cane toad was the wrong one and didn't even control the sugar cane pest it was imported to control.

Either Oz will have to import hippies or offer a bounty per carcass until Mother Nature supplies a predator.

[jpak]

16. Lick Mo' Toads

:hippie:

[depakid]

21. Nasty little bastards