Here is the toad that was supposed to save Australia from the blight of the beetle which was destroying the sugar cane crops. But who is going to save Australia from the toad? The toad has thrived in Australia reaching a healthy 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) weight.

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Australia’s Worst Environmental Disaster

Initially they were introduced into the environment to aid Australia in getting rid of the Grey back Cane Beetle and French’s Cane beetle which was destroying the roots of sugar cane. The Australian Bureau of Sugar Experimental Stations imported about 100 toads from Hawaii to the Meringa Experimental Station near Cairns. In 1935 due to their fast ability to breed there were 3000 released in the sugar cane plantations of north Queensland.

The Toad which was to Eradicate Pests soon Became a Bigger Pest

• They are poisonous in all their life stages and have poisoned pets and humans with their toxins
• Many native animals which normally feed off frogs, tadpoles, and frog’s eggs have been poisoned
• They have created a shortage of honey bees
• They compete with other animals for food, causing a shortage of food for native animals
• They have increased in population. A pair of cane toads can produce from 20,000 eggs to 60,000 per spawning (depending on which site is correct).
• The cane toad secretes poisons, mainly through gigantic glands on either side of its head, and can spew venom several feet
• The toads excreted poisonous venom strong enough to kill dogs and even humans, earning itself the title of one of the worst invasive species in the world and taking its place in the Global Invasive Species Database

How Can They Eradicate the Pest?

Unfortunately many of the means discussed to eradicate the poison Cane Toad would kill other existing life in Australia. The Cane Toad is already doing a pretty good job of that, so the problem remains, how can Australia rid itself of this pest?

Professor Rick Shine holds out some hope though in that sometimes the male drowns the female when copulating in the water, and that the adult toads are feeding off their young.

Sydney University scientists discovered something quite unusual while studying toads in captivity. They witnessed the adult Cane toad wiggling its toes around the young toads. As they wiggled their toes they must have appeared like insects. This lured the younger ones to hop forward and become a meal for the older ones. This cannibalistic tendency might be the only thing to save Australia from disaster.

You Heard of Mikey – He’ll eat anything, so will this Guy!

You’ve heard of picky eaters, and might even have a few of your own, so their may be one good thing to say about this guy; according to Cecil Schwalbe, a herpetologist, toads and frogs will “eat just about anything they can get in their mouths” and it includes snakes, bats, birds, bugs, mice, fish and even other frogs. They lack teeth, so must swallow their food whole. Not something I would encourage at my dinner table.

Licking Toads to Get High

This toad holds hallucinogenic properties, and is used in psychedelic rituals held in Australia. The venom released from this frog (Bufotenine) was used to induce a high. The hallucinogenic effects were produced by licking or smoking, but the high could be fatal and was outlawed by the Australian government in 1980 under the Drug Misuse Act.

It is this species and others that people are licking to get high and the hallucinogenic chemical is completely unpredictable. Joe Kissell strongly recommends against it.

What is truly remarkable though is that medical research is being done regarding the secretions of the Ecuadorian species, called the Epipedrobates tricolor, and a pain killer is being researched. This pain killer ABT-594, nicknamed “epibatidine” has been described as being 200 times more potent than morphine, with fewer side effects. The same secretions are also showing promise as a muscle relaxant and heart stimulant.

Above is another hallucinogenic species to be aware of.

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In the United States another toad species, known as the Colorado River Toad or the Sonoran Desert toad was producing similar effects. While it is not illegal to own the toad, the venom is considered a controlled substance. Some of the southwestern U.S. states were arresting the participants of bufotenine abuse from the 1960s through the 90s.

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The dangers of these hallucinogens were experimented with back in the days of the1400s, Christopher Columbus days. …”this powder that they sniff through the nose poison them so much that they don’t know what they are doing…” The narcotic is made out of the bark of the tree called “Anandenantera peregrina” The locals called it “kohoba” and on the continent they call it “jopo”. One of the main ingredients is Bufotenine found in the toxins of the toads. This toxin can go from recreational to fatal in the lack of a heart beat.