Why Gamble on Cane Toads?

 

 

 

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Up the Creek
Down the Creek
Letter from Gove
Mackay's Boatyard   
 The Night of the Cane Toad Queen

Why Gamble on Cane Toads?

 

The cane toad is public enemy #1 in Queensland . (Read on to find out why.) So the creative Queenslanders have come up with all sorts of innovative ways to reduce the total population. There's cane toad golf, where hapless toads are used as balls. Then there's toad racing, a popular gambling game where toads race for their lives. Another way is to just run over the buggers. If you see a car swerving ahead of you in the narrow, two-lane blacktop roads, don't assume the driver is drunk. He or she just may be doing their bit for the environment by squashing a cane toad.

How did they arrive on Australia 's pristine shores? Well the cane toad, bufo marinus, was introduced back in 1935 from Argentina by way of Hawaii (so we bloody Americans are partly to blame).The sugar cane beetle was devastating Australia 's sugar cane plantations. The Aussies imported what they thought was a solution. But while the Hawaiian cane beetle was a ground dweller and easy prey for toads, the high flying Aussie variety lived on the top of the cane, far above the toads' reach. What worked in Hawaii failed in OZ. The cane toads began to breed prolifically, devastating the native insect and frog population.

With no real predators, cane toads spread across Queensland like a plague. And now they have been found as far south as New South Wales and north into the Northern Territory —even invading the Kakadu National Park . Most predators who try to eat the toads are killed by the poison glands in the toads' backs. Even the mighty saltwater croc has been fooled by these little buggers. Some have been found dead with their stomachs full of toads. Naturalists report that some birds have learned to kill the toads, first flipping them onto their stomachs to avoid the poisonous glands and feeding on the liver.

Ret: I want you to think of the implications of that honor, being named the Cane Toad Queen ! We weren't so smart on the Night of the Toad Queen, picking those numbered toads up by their backs. No wonder the emcee made everyone dry their hands with his well-used towel! Lifting those bottles of Dark&Stormy, I guess we were safe. Even so, I'm glad we didn't order food that night.

The folks on Lizard Island , about 150 miles north of Cairns , solved the vexing cane toad problem in the most creative manner. In 1987, the unwanted toads were spotted near the swimming pool of the exclusive Lizard Island Resort. Dead goannas were scattered about. The toads were thought to have hitchhiked across the sea with plantings from a landscape project. Ten adult toads were caught almost immediately and four more were caught when tape recordings of mating toad noises were played to the randy creatures. Now only the pretty green frogs are left there. Or so they say.

 

 


 

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