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Concerned about the sudden decline in numbers of freshwater crocodiles that eat poisonous invasive toads, Australian researchers have devised an infuriating way to help the reptiles survive on their own.
In a study published in the Royal Society Press, scientists presented detoxified cane toad carcasses to crocodiles as bait, but when they added “nauseating chemicals” to the toads, the crocodiles immediately wanted to avoid the cane toad for their future dinners.
The invasive toad was first introduced to the mainland from Hawaii in 1935 as part of a pest management strategy, but this failed and the poisonous amphibians spread throughout tropical Australia.
“It’s a terrible situation. The crocodile will have seizures, and then it’s basically massive cardiac arrest, so death will be pretty quick and probably very painful,” Georgia Ward-Fear, a conservation scientist at Macquarie University in Sydney, told NPR about what happens when crocodiles eat toads.
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Concerned about the sudden decline of freshwater crocodiles that eat poisonous invasive toads, Australian researchers have devised an infuriating way to help the reptiles survive on their own. (Don Arnold/WireImage)
“Apex predators play a critical ecological role, making their conservation a high priority,” the study states. “In tropical Australia, lethal ingestion of the toxic invasive cane toad has led to a collapse of freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni) populations by more than 70%.”
In 2021, researchers left around 2,400 dead cane toads laced with nauseating chemicals in areas where crocodiles hunt in northwest Australia, and the crocodiles “rapidly learned to avoid the toad bait but continued to eat the control (chicken) bait,” the study said.
“Repeated feeding over several years had a sustained positive effect on crocodile survival,” they added.
According to the study, the taste aversion technique “relies on the widespread ability of animals to learn to avoid foods that induce nausea when ingested.”
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Cane toads were first introduced to the mainland from Hawaii in 1935 as a pest control measure, but the attempt failed and the poisonous amphibians spread throughout tropical Australia. (Joshua Prieto/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“Crocodiles with toads in their stomachs also frequently suffered severe cardiovascular and digestive bleeding,” the study said. “Toad-poisoned crocodiles were sometimes found alive, floating on the surface in muscle spasms, performing continuous ‘death rolls’ in the water, becoming extremely lethargic, with paralyzed limbs, loss of coordination, and/or unresponsiveness with their mouths wide open. None of these animals could be saved.”


The survival of freshwater crocodiles in Australia is under threat. (David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)
The scientists also scattered food to prevent the crocodiles from eating too much and becoming seriously ill.
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“It’s been a huge success,” Ward-Fear told NPR, adding that alligator mortality in the area has dropped by up to 95 percent, “and now it’s being run by Native American rangers and wildlife management agencies.”