Transcript cane toad - kellamscience

AMPHIBIANS
How on earth did I
get here?
Cane toad
Originally, cane toads were used to
eradicate pests from sugarcane, giving
rise to their common name.
The cane toad (Bufo marinus), also known as
the Giant Neotropical Toad or Marine Toad, is
a large, terrestrial true toad native to Central
and South America, but has since been
introduced to various islands throughout
Oceania and the Caribbean. The cane toad is a
prolific breeder; females lay single-clump
spawns with thousands of eggs. Its
reproductive success is partly because of
opportunistic feeding: it has a diet, unusual
among Anurans, of both dead and living
matter. Adults average 3.9–5.9 in in length; the
largest recorded specimen weighed 5.8 lb with
a length of 15 inches from snout to vent.
The cane toad has poison glands, and the tadpoles
are highly toxic to most animals if ingested.
Because of its voracious appetite, the cane toad
has been introduced to many regions of the Pacific
and the Caribbean islands as a method of
agricultural pest control. The species derives its
common name from its use against the cane
beetle (Dermolepida albohirtum). The cane toad is
now considered a pest and an invasive species in
many of its introduced regions; of particular
concern is that its toxic skin kills many animals—
native predators and otherwise—when ingested.
Cane toad
They breed like flies, as the saying goes. Each pair of cane
toads can lay 20,000 per breeding season (some published
references estimate they produce as much as 60,000 eggs!).
Their "toadpoles" develop faster than
many Australian frogs so they can
outcompete our frogs for food.
Toads and toadpoles seem to be resistant
to some herbicides and eutrophic water
which would normally kill frogs and
tadpoles.
All stages of a toad's life are poisonous so
they have no natural predators to keep
their numbers in check.
Toads not only eat the food normally
available to Australian frogs, there is
growing anecdotal evidence that they eat
frogs as well, especially metamorphs.
Fish who eat toadpoles die. Animals who
eat young toads and adults die. The
museums have plenty of snakes
preserved in jars which were killed by
toad toxin so fast, the toad is still in
their mouths unswallowed. Even small
amounts of water which toadpoles have
gotten into, such as a pet's water dish,
can be poisoned by toadpoles. When the
pet comes along to drink from it's dish, it
becomes sick. Local vets report that a
couple dogs a month are brought in ill
just from mouthing toads.
newt
Frog evolution
1. Heart (ventricle)
2. Lung
3. Spleen
4. Liver
5. Stomach
6. Small intestine
7. Large intestine
8. Kidney
9. Urinary bladder
10. Oviduct
11. Fat bodies
Urogenital System
Kidneys: Filter Blood
Ureters: Carry urine from kidneys to bladder
Testes: Make sperm
Oviducts: eggs travel through these
Ovary: makes egg (usually not visible on frog)
Urinary Bladder: Stores Urine
Cloaca: Where sperm, eggs, urine, and feces exit. The
"Sewer"
Peritoneum: Spiderweb like membrane that
covers organs
Stomach: First site of chemical digestion,
breaks down food
Liver: Makes bile (aids in digestion)
Gall bladder: Stores bile
Esophagus: Tube that leads to the stomach
Pancreas: Makes insulin (aids in digestion)
Small Intestine (duodenum and ileum): absorb
nutrients from food
Mesentery: Holds coils of the small intestine
together
Large Intestine: Collects waste, absorbs water
Cloaca: "Sewer": eggs, sperm, urine and feces
enter this area
Spleen: Part of circulatory system, stores blood
Mexican axolotls (Ambystoma
mexicanum)
Sold widely in the pet trade
throughout New Zealand, axolotls
are ferocious predators that would
be a serious threat to native
invertebrates and fish if they were
to escape from captivity.
Frog development
FROGS LEGS
Boys will be boys.
Frog topiary
This is often called a frog
END