
the cane toad
Once upon a time, I used to read the encyclopedia before I sleep. One day I was reading “T” and while flipping through the pages, I stumbled upon Toad. It had a huge picture of a Cane Toad in it and I promptly threw the encyclopedia across the room.
Some of you may know that I have a fear of frogs/toads.
With all my resolve, I picked up the encyclopedia to try and look at the picture again. After a few attempts, I managed to look at it. I also read up about these critters.
Turns out they were brought into Australia to control sugar cane pests. The cane toads themselves overpopulated and became pests. Here’s some fast facts about these pests:
- can grow up to 38 centimeters and weight 2 kgs
- can lay up to 20,000 eggs in one breeding session
- 102 were brought into Australia. They now number 200 million!
- they are poisonous. Their poison is classified as Class 1 ( which includes heroin and cocaine )
- if you lick a cane toad, you will get a mild hallucinatory effect for half an hour, then you might die !
- many Australians play sports like toad-cricket or toad-golf.

the size of a cane toad
An Australian classmate of mine told me that cane toads are much more common far from the city. During mating season, the whole road would be swarmed with a toad orgy. It is also this time which he and his friends would drive around, hoping to smash as many as they can.
I hope I don’t see one here in Brisbane.
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