Cane Toads

Madison Powers
October 18, 2011
6:00 PM

     For my APES class, we viewed a movie on cane toads this previous Tuesday night. I found the film to be a lot more interesting that I would've thought of a 1980s science movie.

     Cane Toads, a native species to Hawaii, were introduced to northern Australia in 1935, on the 22nd of June. The reason for this? Cane grubs were ravaging the sugar crop in Australia, which in turn, had a great impact on the world sugar market. A 1932 conference in Puerto Rico decided that the cane toads would be introduced on Australia to control the grub. 102 toads were captured and shipped to Australia from Hawaii and introduced in Queensland. Introduced into a local swamp, the toads were expected to grow in population quickly and help eliminate the grub. What followed was what no one could've predicted.
      What is unique about the cane toad is that the female can live up to 40,000 eggs, with up to 30,000 of them surviving. Within 4 to 5 weeks of hatching, these toads can move from the water to the land, which is very quick. One scientist said that the toads can lay eggs, "just about anywhere." As long as there is water, the toad can lay eggs. Because the toad can lay eggs anywhere and they get out of the water at a young age, their survival rate is greatly increased. This high survival rate and uncontrolled population growth had not been predicted, and by 1945, cane toads had become a very large problem.
     In 1945, a pesticide had been discovered for the sugar grubs, and the toads were no longer needed to control grub populations. By now, though, the toads had become and issue. A Queensland native said that, "We brought in this monstrous thing called a toad." The toad had spread much quicker and widely than they had expected it to, and there was no way of controlling it. It was now considered an invasive species. Most of the northern part of Australia was covered in them, and they were expected to spread even further, including down the east coast. Many ponds were just overflowing with the toad, an idea that I believe is pretty disgusting.

      One thing that really caught my attention was how much some Australians love and worship this animal. This one man, who seemed to be a little off his rocker, said that, "I definitely think they're a harmless animal and no one has anything to fear of them...They are a magnificent animal." This man and his wife seemed to worship the toad. He let them crawl all over him, left the light on in his yard so they could catch bugs that were attracted to it, and always was happy about these toads. He and his wife even left cat food out for the toads to eat. I was surprised that the entire time he was talking about them he didn't break out into tears. Another shocking piece of information about the toads was that some people keep the toads as pets. They dressed them up, made them beds, had tea parties for them, treating the cane toads as if they were dolls. One little girl, who had her own pet toad named Dairy Queen (not it's only name), said, "When I tickle his tummy, he really likes that." This girls seemed to be torturing the toad, manhandling it and squeezing it, but I guess it didn't mind. Another town debated putting up a statue of the toad to honor it. Honoring a toad that is destroying your ecosystems and overall is just a pest does not seem like a great idea to me. While it may have brought in tourists, a statue of an invasive toad isn't the right fit; there are much better ideas for a tribute. The people's worshiping of the toad definitely was shocking, yet interesting.
     I also enjoyed the segment on the cane toad poison. The toads can excrete a poison that can be deadly to predators and people alike, something that many people do not recognize. It was a bit gross when the scientist showed how the toxin was excreted, but still fascinating that an abundant and seamlessly harmless toad could be so dangerous. To go along with the toads poison, the film mention that the toxins in the toad could be used as a drug. A man appeared on the screen, whose face was hidden by shadows, smoking something, possibly part of the toad. Cane toads can be used as a drug, by boiling them in water and drinking the water. It is said to cause hallucinations, increase mental capacity, and create vivid colors. This drug is considered a Class 1 narcotic in Australia and is monitored by the police.

      There were many traits that made the cane toad an invasive species and unique. One was that this basically eats anything that moves and is smaller than it. It was even said to try to eat bouncing ping pong balls. The toad also has a very strong sex drive, and can produce a large number of offspring. This sex drive was displayed when a male toad was shown trying to mate with a squished female who had been baking on the road for a day. It's poison is also unique, because anything that tries to eat it is killed by the toxins. This essentially means that the toad has no predators, and is impossible to control. One man described the toads as an, "excellent invasion machine." They adapt well, eat anything, can live as long as water is present, and have excellent predator defenses. The cane toad is essentially unstoppable. One man says he, "can't see a simple way of stopping it." The toad is going to invade even more, destroying ecosystems and the food chain in those ecosystems. By the time the movie had been filmed, the toads had already destroyed most of the habitat they lived in and had heavily impacted the animals there. The toad was simply unstoppable and a serious threat.
      Reflecting back on the movie, it turned out a lot better than I had expected to be. It had a bit of humor and fun in parts, which made it a good watch. While I myself have never dealt with an invasive species, I got a pretty good feel from the movie on what it would be like to deal with one. I feel it would be extremely difficult and annoying at times to have a species like the cane toad around at all times, and constantly spreading. I also learned that invasive species can have a highly dangerous impact, and can potentially destroy entire ecosystems.
      The movie may have been close to 30 years old, but I still feel that the ideas present are still relevant. Invasive species are today still have a great impact on ecosystems all over the world. For example, milfoil, lampreys, and zebra mussels all greatly impact lakes, ponds and rivers in the US. We as humans must make better decisions, for the decision we make could end up damaging out ecosystems for years to come, possibly forever. The cane toads movie was funny and interesting, yet taught that invasive species are devastating and we as humans must be more careful on what we put into our ecosystems.

Images:
http://www.ntnews.com.au/images/uploadedfiles/editorial/pictures/2008/07/17/toad-vs-snake-1.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Bufo_marinus_australian_range.png/220px-Bufo_marinus_australian_range.png
http://fireflyforest.net/images/firefly/2006/July/cane-toad-4.jpg