Monday, 26 February 2018

Toads!


More problems for Madagascar's unique animals (including the acclaimed and distinctive lemurs) with the arrival of a poisonous, camouflaged Asian toad (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/24/madagascar-toxic-toads-lemurs-ecology-threat). The toad has impressive reproductive capabilities (there might be more than 20 million around the port where they seem to have been introduced only 10 years ago) and such organisms (remember the 'biocontrol' disaster of introducing the Cane toad to Australia to deal with beetles in sugar-cane fields!) pose a serious danger to the unique organisms of this island. They will out-compete some species and poison others who attempt to eat them.

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