September 2011: Scaling cliffs, swimming extraordinary distances and negotiating cave systems - no wonder the cane toads' colonisation of Australia has been so fast.
Kimberley Toad Busters (KTB), a volunteer organisation working to stop the relentless spread of the super-toads which have a negative impact on native wildlife, say it is the toad's hardy nature that has seen such an unprecedented rate of colonisation.
Toads, long thought not to have the ability to climb, to hibernate, to swim well and to remain immersed in water for long periods of time have been shown to do just these things.
Is the cane toad evolving at unprecedented rate?‘The number of toads I've seen and photographed happily climbing up a cliff face, or deep in the bowels of the earth should lay to rest the idea that they are not proficient at these tasks,' said John Cugley, administrative coordinator for KTB and ex-president of the Australian Cavers Association.
‘I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't there myself,' said Macca, owner of Go-wild eco-canoeing and a KTB volunteer said. ‘I was in the middle of Lake Argyle, some 20 nautical miles from the Eastern shore and low and behold we find a toad happily swimming along. It beggars belief just how long it must have been swimming for to get to that point.'
'This animal will adapt to any climatic conditions'KTB volunteer Dean Goodgame warned: ‘With the toad still holding the record for being the most fertile animal found in the world, it takes no great leap of faith, nor any in depth understanding of biological evolution to realise that this animal will adapt to any of the climatic conditions found in Australia, it really is only a matter of time.'
Lee Scott-Virtue, who founded KTB, said the unique adaptability of the cane toad posed a question: ‘Is the cane toad evolving at a rate far ahead of what science has deemed probable and do scientists appointed by the Federal government really understand the full impact of the cane toad and the work undertaken by community volunteers to mitigate this impact?'
KTB have been recording cane toads breeding and they are well established in areas that defy measures such as ‘fencing'.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/cane-toad-australia.html
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