Cane toad

Cane toads eat lots of bugs, like ants and termites.

They also eat small animals. They come out to eat at night.

Cane toads come out at night to feed. They eat arthropods, especially ants and termites, and small animals with backbones. By day they hide under fallen logs, boards and piles of leaves.

In Australia, cane toads were meant to eat beetles whose grubs damage sugarcane roots. About 100 toads were brought from Hawaii, and more than 3,000 of their young were released in 1935. The toads did not control the beetles, but they spread across northern Australia.

A nocturnal, terrestrial generalist, R. marina feeds on arthropods, especially ants and termites, and on small vertebrates (IUCN). By day it shelters beneath fallen trees, loose boards, matted palm leaves and similar cover.

The Australian introduction targeted French's cane beetle and the greyback cane beetle, whose larvae eat sugarcane roots. The Australian Museum records that about 100 toads were imported from Hawaii to the Meringa Experimental Station near Cairns, and more than 3,000 offspring were released into north Queensland cane fields in July 1935. The IUCN notes that the toads failed to control the pests.

Cane toads hop out at night.

They like lawns, roads and gardens near people. In Australia they keep spreading to new places.

Cane toads are active at night and spend the day hidden under cover. They like open, disturbed places, such as roads, tracks, grassy fields and gardens near houses, and they tend to avoid thick, wet forests.

In Australia, cane toads have spread from Queensland west across the Northern Territory into Western Australia, and south into New South Wales. They reached Kakadu National Park in 2002, and they are still moving west.

Cane toads are nocturnal and favor open or disturbed ground: tracks, roads, low grassland, grazing land, suburban parks and gardens; dense wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest can act as barriers. They tolerate salinity and high temperatures, and the IUCN notes that some eastern Caribbean populations may have arrived by crossing the sea on their own.

In Australia the IUCN records the first sightings in Kakadu National Park in June 2002, and the toads are continuing to expand rapidly westward through the Kimberley. The Australian Government notes that decades of research have found no broad-scale way to eradicate them.

There are lots and lots of cane toads.

In places like Australia, they cause problems for other animals. Scientists are working on ways to help native animals stay safe.

Cane toads are not in danger: the IUCN lists them as least concern, and their numbers are growing. The problem is the reverse. In places where people brought them, they compete with native frogs and poison native animals that try to eat them.

In Australia, scientists now focus on reducing the toads' harm rather than getting rid of them all. One idea is to teach native predators to avoid toads, so they stay safe. The cane toad's story shows why moving animals to new places can be risky.

The IUCN assessed Rhinella marina in 2021 (published 2023) as Least Concern, citing its wide distribution, broad habitat tolerance and large, increasing population; rather than conservation, it says measures are needed for species harmed by its spread. Impacts include competition with native frogs, poisoning of predators that eat it and, in Puerto Rico, introduced toads carrying salmonella.

Australia listed the toads' toxic effects as a key threatening process in 2005 and published a threat abatement plan. Because no broad-scale eradication method exists, research now focuses on reducing impacts, including conditioned taste aversion to protect threatened predators. An eradication program has been started in the Grenadines.