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    nancytee's Avatar
    nancytee Posts: 1, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Nov 9, 2009, 04:50 PM
    Australian cane toads?
    What percent of Australia is now suffering from overpopulation of cane toads?
    Cite sources, please?
    Stratmando's Avatar
    Stratmando Posts: 11,188, Reputation: 508
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    #2

    Nov 9, 2009, 04:52 PM

    Sounds like Homework, Look through here:
    austrailian cane toads - Google Search
    If not, I appologize. Good Luck.
    iview's Avatar
    iview Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
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    #3

    Nov 15, 2009, 04:00 AM

    Cane Toad info links:

    http://www.nrm.gov.au/publications/....-toads-map.pdf

    Invasive Animals CRC - Invasive Animals - Cane toads
    codyt.'s Avatar
    codyt. Posts: 2, Reputation: 2
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    #4

    Nov 28, 2011, 12:08 PM
    Cane toads (Bufo marinus) are the world's most famous toad, and for good reason: they are masters of invasion. Native to Central and South America, they were introduced to numerous countries in the early 1900's. In 1935, 101 cane toads were taken from Hawaii (where they had been previously introduced) and were set free in the Townsville area of North Queensland, Australia, where it was hoped that the toad would combat the cane beetles (pests of the sugarcane). Unfortunately, the beetles are out by day and the toads come out at night. Further, the beetles live up high in the cane, and the toads are terrestrial. So the cane toads did not eat many beetles. They did however reproduce! A female cane toad can lay 20,000 eggs, and the cane toads were well adapted to the Australian environment, due to the toxins they hold in their paratoid gland. These toxins deter native wildlife from feeding on the toads, and the toads have taken full advantage of their freedom to wander the landscape virtually unscathed: there are now hundreds of millions of toads in Australia, and they are on an incessant march westward. They have now taken over a large portion of the top half of Australia, and are expanding their westward at a rate of about 50km per year.

    Cane toads can grow very large, up to nearly a kilogram. To do this, they have to eat a lot of insects! This means they are competing for food resources with native Australian frogs, and this is likely a problem.

    Try looking at www.australian-information-stories.com/cane-toad.html or www.honoluluzoo.org/cane_toad.html
    iview's Avatar
    iview Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
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    #5

    Nov 29, 2011, 08:27 AM
    The long-term effects of toads on the Australian environment are difficult to determine, however some effects include "the depletion of native species that die eating cane toads; the poisoning of pets and humans; depletion of native fauna preyed on by cane toads; and reduced prey populations for native insectivores, such as skinks."

    Precipitous declines in populations of the Northern Quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) have been observed after toads have invaded an area. There are a number of reports of declines in goanna and snake populations after the arrival of toads. For example, local populations of Varanus panoptes dropped by up to 90% when their habitat was invaded by cane toads. The preliminary risk assessment of cane toads in Kakadu National Park stated that the predation of the cane toad by native wildlife is the greatest risk to biodiversity. Other factors, such as competition with native wildlife for resources, and the predation of the cane toad on native wildlife, were considered much lower risk factors but requiring further study. In the Northern Territory, goanna predation on cane toads has been linked to a rise in the amount of undamaged salt water crocodile eggs. Cane toads were present within a few days of the crocodiles hatching in April 2007.

    Numerous native species have been reported as successfully preying on toads. Some birds, such as the Black Kite (Milvus migrans), have learned to attack the toad's belly, avoiding the poison-producing glands on the back of the head. Anecdotal reports in the Northern Territory suggest that a native frog, Dahl's Aquatic Frog (Litoria dahlii), is able to eat the tadpoles and live young of the toad without being affected by the poison that often kills other predators. This may account for slower than expected infestations of toads in certain areas of the Northern Territory, although later research carried out jointly by several Australian Universities casts doubt on these reports. Some snakes have been reported to have adapted smaller jaws so that they are unable to swallow large cane toads which have large quantities of poison.

    Another study, however, notes that the cane toad is adapting to a wider environmental range and may in the future be spreading into habitats currently not available.
    In 2009 it was found that the native meat ant is immune to the toad's poison and can successfully prey upon young cane toads. Whereas native frogs and toads have natural reflexes to avoid the meat ants, the cane toads do not tend to try to escape the ants, rather standing still when attacked waiting for the toxin to kill the attacker.

    More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads_in_Australia

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