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.
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