The giant toad «Toadzilla».
The mighty specimen of a “Cane Toad”, as the animals are called in English, weighs 2.7 kilos – and thus more than many a newborn baby, said the environmental organization Queensland Environment on Friday. “Toadzilla” will probably set a new world record.
Ranger Kylee Gray says she was breathless when the monster amphibian suddenly appeared in Queensland’s Conway National Park. “I reached down and grabbed the cane toad and I couldn’t believe how big and heavy it was.” The female is said to be 25 centimeters long. “A cane toad this size will eat anything it can fit in its mouth, including insects, reptiles and small mammals,” it said.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the previous record holder was registered in Sweden in 1991: Prinsen (Prince) weighed 2.65 kilograms at the time. An average specimen of a “Bufo marinus”, as cane toads are called by their scientific name, weighs about 450 grams, according to the website.
The poisonous cane toads originally come from South America. They were introduced to Australia in 1935, originally with the idea of using them as pest control in sugar cane plantations. But the project backfired massively: the toads multiplied so massively that they are now considered a plague. They will also eat almost anything from insects, mice and other cane toads to household waste. Because many Australian animals lack venom resistance to the toads, some mammals, snakes and reptiles are under serious threat from the invasion.