Thursday 21 April 2011
Cane toad breeding population located in Sydney
Cane toad (Bufo marinus)
Credit: coffscoastadvocate.com.au
If you're not familiar with the story of the cane toad in Australia:
There is an old song where a householder has a mouse, so gets a cat. After it gets rid of the mouse, the cat becomes a nuisance & so the householder gets a dog. To get rid of the dog, an elephant is the solution.
Australian experience with the cane toad has been similar, though not so amusing: sugar cane was introduced to the state of Queensland. An accidental introduction was the cane beetle (Dermolepida albohirtum), which feeds on sugar cane. On very little evidence, the cane toad was introduced to control the cane beetle. It didn't. Basically, the problem is: sugar cane grows 2 to 9 metres (7 to 30 feet) tall. Cane toads can't climb & can barely jump. So cane toads don't eat cane beetles.
What they do eat is almost everything else.
Cane toad tadpoles are poisonous if ingested & the adults have poison glands. Between their voracious appetite & poisonous flesh, cane toads constitute a major threat to native animals, both larger & smaller.
And it gets worse: toads have been invading adjacent states, partly opportunistically, on human transport, & also by their own efforts. At the moment, the front moves 40 to 60 km per year.
After Fukushima, time for more nukes
Nuclear energy has a long history of disasters and broken promises. Now, in the aftermath of Fukushima, the nuclear industry in Australia is suggesting building more:
http://m.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/call-for-renewed-debate-on-nuclear-energy-in-australia-20110420-1dp13.html
Maybe its the possibility of safe nuclear energy using thorium, that has the uranium zealots in such a hurry.
Maybe its the possibility of safe nuclear energy using thorium, that has the uranium zealots in such a hurry.
The vagina travelogues
Can't be too careful. An effort to avoid this kind of trouble quite a few years ago was the name of a word processor called "Samna". The name was chosen because it had no meaning in any known language.
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