What is Digg?85 Comments
- CypherXero, on 10/12/2007, -4/+50...on a plane.
- Paroparo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+43We got ***** toads!
- Blarbo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+39Cane toads are not native to Australia, therefore it is our fault they are there, and the local ecosystem has no way to keep them in check.
- geniusj, on 10/12/2007, -1/+38At first, this was exactly what I was thinking. But then I thought that maybe nature running its course includes us trying to stop it ;)
- davidv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+28Man that toad must really hate being photographed, he looks pissed.
"They were first brought to Australia from Hawaii to eradicate cane beetles, but they have had a devastating impact on native wildlife."
Anyone remember that Simpsons episode where they keep introducing new animals to erradicate the previous... - samrij, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25You know you're in trouble when Animal Welfare groups advocate killing them too
- FryerTuck, on 10/12/2007, -4/+27Grab your golf club.
- mistermanoli, on 10/12/2007, -7/+29"Animal welfare groups have said that the humane way to get rid of these invaders is to put them into a freezer until they die. "
yea sure.. ill put the poisonous frog right next to the steak im gonna eat for dinner.. i feel completely safe doing that.. - Zero82z, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21"One member of Australia's federal parliament has previously suggested that people should beat them with a golf club or a cricket bat."
Australia's latest sports fad: Toad Golf! - thedak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21because frogs/toads hibernate,so they will hibernate and pass away in sweet froggy sleep.
- raid517, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21They are eating and killing thousands of native species and driving them to the edge of extinction. (The same is true with foxes, camels, wild pigs, rabbits and other non native species - which are all imported from abroad and which are wrecking havoc on the local environment). You can't just ignore them, because if you do you risk loosing hundreds and perhaps thousands of species that are utterly unique to the Australian continent - species that simply do not exist anywhere else.
This is not about 'letting nature take it's course', this is about the gross stupidity and meddling of mankind and what can happen when he fails to take into account the potential impact of his actions on the environment.
This problem is now beyond critical, it is beyond simple theory and argument over what might happen - since much of the devastation has already happened and is also ongoing. The real question is just exactly how to deal with it - which given the vast numbers of these non native species and the fact that they exist in an environment with no natural competitors, or predators to keep their numbers down is not an easy prospect to consider at all.
In any case I'm certainly not sure if the few thousand members of the Australian military are enough to deal with is. But I have no idea what else could be done... - 0x0000ff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17it wouldn't really be a 'latest' sport, when I was younger it was incredibly common for groups of people to go toad-hunting at night, smacking them as far as you can with a golf club.
- skydivingdutch, on 10/12/2007, -4/+21Flamethrowers might be effective
- EmileVictor, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Well, it sure as hell beats spraying them with oven cleaner (it melts their skin).
- PhantomZmoove, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Plus, what if nature running its course is us disappearing as a species. See, I'm leaning more toward intervening.
- ZaNkY, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14"Animal welfare groups have said that the humane way to get rid of these invaders is to put them into a freezer until they die. "
LOL, Humane yup :P
Anyone have a freezer big enough to fit 100 million froggies? :D - Enitime, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12They can weigh up to 5lbs.
"We're gonna need a bigger boot." - bfbraum, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10There's a documentary about these things, called "Cane Toads," by Mark Lewis --
http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?trkid=73&movieid=70000977
-- very, very worth watching. - roach, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9They were introduced, so letting nature run its course means using yer golf club.
- LordProx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I know exactly how to solve the problem.
Man has driven many species to extinction for profit or sport. All you have to do is post a bounty per toad and a heavy fine for captive breeding, a bounty for releasing sterilized toads during mating season, and an invitation for hunters to come over and stay for a "safari vacation". The taxes from toad hunting tourism could pay for the bounty program. - valkyries, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7maybe issue everyone big boots?
- Twenty, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Flamethrowers are always effective.
- raid517, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6They tried that already with rabbits. (Which are another non native species). Unfortunately it would cost countless billions to pay a bounty on every out of control species - and finding cane toad spawn, is not exactly an easy thing to do either. You are talking about a land mass that's appoximately 2/3' the size of the USA - most of which is unpopulate.
Looking for rogue species in an area that large is somewhat akin to looking for a needle in the largest haystack on Earth.
It is not a simple thing to do at all. - PaulOwen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Australians could always smoke their way out of the problem:
Mix blended cane toad secretion with excess methanol and allow to stand a few days. Filter. Evaporate methanol. Extract residue with dilute HCl.
Basify with NaOH or NH3.
Extract into organic solvent (eg dichloromethane). Evaporate to leave crude bufotenine.
Dissolve 4.1g bufotenin in 20 ml 1M NaOH and evaporate to dryness under N2. Dry in vacuum at 90C and dissolve in 50 ml dimethoxyethane. Add to 1.9 g acetyl-Cl in 50 ml in 50 ml dimethoxyethane and stir four hours at room temperature. Add to dilute NaHCO3 and CHCl3; shake and dry, evaporate in vacuum the CHCl3 layer to get 5-Acetoxy-dimethyltryptamine.
This should be active at maybe 15 mg smoked, possibly orally as well.. - Splitt3rxx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5easy, just send in chuck norris.
- Bloodwah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This educational video shows a few ways to deal with them.
http://www.cane-toad.com - raid517, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7This isn't a ***** joke you people. Man some of you guys are ignorant.
If a way isn't found to deal with this we will never get back all of the amazing things that exist in this fantastic country. We aren't just talking about a gradual decline, wer're talking about nothing short of a mass extinction event.
If you still think that's funny - then I think you may possibly be insane. - YourTechSupport, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Suprized no one posted this... it rang in my mind as I read the article.
The Simpsons, "Bart, The Mother", on 'introduced species', Skinner explains solution to the overactive pigeon population, by letting flying lizards run loose and eat them.
Skinner: Well, I was wrong. The lizards are a godsend.
Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're
overrun by lizards?
Skinner: No problem. We simply release wave after wave of Chinese
needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?
Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous
type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
Lisa: But then we're stuck with gorillas!
Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around,
the gorillas simply freeze to death. - flowaus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Someone sent us up the toad!
- Echnin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Can an army of frogs defeat toads?
- SyDIGG, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6yeah like the cane beetles!
- Enitime, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4... from space. It's the only way to be sure.
- iMick, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Were will we get the Army for this? Thanks to US policy brown-nosing and East Timor, our army is spread throughout the world pretty much stretched past it's limit. Australia has only a tiny defence force compared with the US.
I for one will hail my new canetoad masters once the invasion is complete :) - dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5They should have let nature take it's course in the first place, then they wouldn't have had all these evil toads..
It reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Bart shoots a bird, and looks after the bird eggs that have the strange-lizard things, then they introduce snakes to eat the lizards, then introduce birds to eat the snakes etc (or something along those lines)... Or that old story book where the old woman eats all the increasinly larger animals to eat the previous one
Finally.. If their that toxic, is it really a good idea to take the picture of it sitting on someones hand....?
- Ben - CDHarrisUSF, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The "calm down" part was meant for TruthElixirX:
"Two Bush comments already, get a life. You're not cool." - stonebear, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Heh heh. I think you are on to something there: http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2004/s1266517.htm
- coffeegeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I wonder if the guy holding the deadly poisonous toad in his hand did his part to help the problem?
- CDHarrisUSF, on 10/12/2007, -10/+12They might get some outside help if they classify the toad as a WMD... and link it to a terrorist organization.
PS: Calm down... it's a joke. - fr3nch13, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Skinner: "Well, I was wrong; the lizards are a godsend."
Lisa: "But isn't that a bit shortsited? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?"
Skinner: "No problem. We simply release wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards."
Lisa: "But aren't the snakes even worse?"
Skinner: "Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat."
Lisa: "But then we're stuck with gorillas!"
Skinner: "No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death." - fnaqzna, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Nuke 'em from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
- ojk007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2All you need to know about cane toads http://www.cane-toad.com/movie.php
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6call the toadbusters
- artbell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That was the funniest comment I have read all week. Hope everyone else caught the Jaws reference.
- ckyxx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Man, I want one as a pet. I could train him to play dead. And jump through a hoop.
- rutterj2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4letting a non-native species take over isnt letting nature run its course. without our intervention the toads wouldnt even be in australia. its our mistake in the first place.
- Kitsune818, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"No-one is quite sure of the most effective way to stop them."
I am.. two words... Doc... Marten's... - Web_Weasel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And if not effective, at least fun.
- parasitewasp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I live in Hawaii and I love the toads. they aren't to noisy like the damn coque frogs (introduced). I have a few frogs in my yard and they do get big. I think you have to eat them to be poisoned.
- mcottier, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Soldiers...The enemy...this toad.
- Web_Weasel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The moral of this story is: Don't bring poisonous animals to Australia. They like it there.
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