| Cane Toad | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Common Name | aka. Marine Toad |
| Scientific Classification | |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Amphibia |
| Order | Anura |
| Family | Bufonidae |
| Genus | Rhinella |
| Species | R. marina |
| Conservation Status | |
 Least Concern | |
The Cane Toad is known well for adapting to Australia's environment as well as Hawaii's but it was originally endemic to South America. Successful stories told by people in Puerto Rico convinced people in Queensland (Australia) to introduce them into cane fields to control grayback cane beetles in the area. The Cane Toads population has now reached huge numbers and to some has become a pest in itself.
In Australia it would have no natural predators since it wasn't endemic to the area caused the cane toads population to reach its plague proportions as we see today. The toads adapted to eating smaller animals than themselves, they even began competing with dogs for the rations in their bowls. Brazilian studies have shown no solution as of now.
Cane toads can inflate themselves when threatened and sweat out a milky latex-like liquid that acts like poison, which is strong enough to be fatal to some species. They emit this liquid from the paranoid glands. These secretions can be launched up to 92cm towards the intimidator, this poison is only dangerous when consumed and has even been used as a hallucigenic drug.
Cane toads breed all year round in Australia in temporary pools of water and other damp patches of water scattered around the area they inhabit. Although cane toads take a long time to mature they can live up to 20 years, these toads sometimes interrupt breeding choruses of native frogs. Their tadpoles are also poisonous and sometimes are the last meal of some unlucky fish. It is believed that Peruvian Indians made a cane toad soup made up of the toads eggs, this was also the reason people think that loads of the Indians perished after eating this non-edible soup.