Monday, October 19, 2009

Cane toad

The wildlife is not all beautiful and sweet.
This is a cane toad in our back yard. These ugly toads (dutch: padden) were introduced into Australia to control the grayback beetle in the suger cane fields back in 1935. There were no pesticides yet at that time. The grayback beetles did not suffer very much though, because they live high up in the sugar cane leaves, and the cane toad feeds on the ground.
The toads don't have a natural enemy, because they are toxic, and now they are a real pest themselves. They are responsible for the deminishing of many native animals (frogs, birds of prey). Millions and millions of dollars are spend, and will be spend, to get rid of them.
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

En vertel nu eens eerlijk,wat heb je met deze gedaan? kus van grote zus.

Jan said...

Ik heb hem laten zitten. Er bestaat overigens ook toadgolf.

Anonymous said...

Wat moet ik me in godsnaam bij toadgolf voorstellen? Of wil ik dit niet weten? Nan

Jan said...

Er bestaan golfballen, en er bestaan (cane)toads. Allebei zitten ze in het gras. En er bestaan golfclubs. De een zegt "plok" als je hem raakt, de ander "kwoaaak".

Anonymous said...

En ga je met de een de andere laten plokken of zo!

Mieke.