January 20, 2023, 9:19 AM
January 20, 2023, 9:19 AM
A park ranger in northeast Australia found a 2.7 kilo cane toadalso known as the giant toad, official sources reported this Friday, adding that the “monstrous” animal has been “removed from nature.”
The amphibian, one of the most toxic species for other animals and considered a threat to Australian fauna, was found last week in the conway national parkin the state of Queensland, when the forest ranger Kylee Gray was touring the premises and a snake forced her to stop the vehicle in which she was traveling.
“I bent down and grabbed the cane toad and couldn’t believe how big and heavy it was,” Gray was quoted as saying in a message posted on social media by the North East Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
The institution explained that some cane toads, which usually weigh about half a kilo, can measure 26 centimeters and weigh 2.5 kilos, and asserted that a specimen like the one found “he will eat anything that fits in his mouth”, which “includes insects, reptiles, and small mammals.”
The animal, a female that was nicknamed ‘Toadzilla’, it may be the largest cane toad ever recorded by the Queensland Museum, where the specimen will be transferred.
It is worth mentioning that after being introduced to Australia in 1935 to end a plague of beetles that plagued the sugarcane plantations in the region, the animal did not eat the insects and, without counting on natural predators, multiplied without control, which is why it has had “a serious impact on the ecosystems of northern Australia” and It is considered one of the greatest threats to the fauna of the countryaccording to the Department of the Environment.
