“Toadzilla” is as heavy as a baby: monster toad discovered in Australia

Australian park rangers have discovered a cane toad in a national park. The mighty specimen of a “Cane Toad,” as the animals are called in English, weighs 2.7 kilograms – more than many newborn babies, the environmental organization Queensland Environment said Friday. “Toadzilla” is likely to set a new world record.

Ranger Kylee Gray says she was out of breath 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 would be 25 centimeters long. “A cane toad this size will eat anything that fits in its mouth, including insects, reptiles and small mammals,” he said.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the previous record holder was registered in Sweden in 1991: Prinsen (Prince) then weighed 2.65 kilograms. 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 are native to South America. They were introduced to Australia in 1935 – originally with the idea of ​​using them as pest control on sugar cane plantations. But the project failed miserably: the toads multiplied so massively that they are now considered a pest. They also eat almost anything from insects, mice and other cane toads to household waste. Because many Australian animals are not resistant to toad venom, some mammals, snakes and reptiles are critically endangered by the invasion. (sda/dpa)