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This is the story of a gang of giant toads.

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They came to Australia to do a job
but they bungled it.

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Once they were hailed as heroes
 now they are big trouble.

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How did they get here
and what went so wrong?

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Meet the accused: an undesirable alien

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Name: Bufo marinus, the cane toad.

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Origin: south and Central America

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Undesirable behavior:
a tendency to poison native wildlife.

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Status: currently rampaging
through Australia's countryside,

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a dangerous immigrant determined
to be an Australian citizen.

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The tropical rainforests of south America.

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This lush world is
the cane toad's original home.

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Here it lives a blameless life

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completely in harmony with the environment
that provides all its needs.

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So how on earth did they end up here,

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9,000 miles away
in the suburban back gardens
of northern Australia

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and not just a few either

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there are millions of them

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ten times the density
you'll find in their native habitat.

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What brought these immigrants here
and who let them in?

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The story is rather astonishing.

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Queensland, Australia, 1935.

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Sugar plantations were in the grip
of a devastating plague.

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The canes were collapsing
and dying in acres

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and this was the culprit, a native beetle

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that has simply taken a liking
to this sweet introduced crop.

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The adult beetles chewed the leaves

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but the real damage
was done by their grubs

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which hatched underground
and destroyed the roots.

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Farmers were desperate.

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No traps, no poisons
would stop this destructive pest.

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But then came news from overseas

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where tales were been told
of a giant south American toad
with a big appetite for beetles.

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Some of these toads
had already been taken
to cane fields in Hawaii

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and they'd apparently shown some promise
in beetle control there.

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Maybe toads were the answer.

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The Australian farmers
sent a man to Hawaii to collect a few.

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102 toads were packed up

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and sent on a journey
that would take nearly 3 weeks.

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Their mission: biological warfare.

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When they finally reached Australian soil,
they were welcomed with open arms.

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Farmers were delighted
to find all but one had survived.

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These were clearly
 tough little animals.

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Toads were released among the stricken cane
and everyone held their breath.

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But there was a snag

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Unlike those in Hawaii,

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the beetles here
lived so high up in the cane,

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that toads down on the ground
simply couldn't reach them.

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The whole idea was a flop.

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Things got rather worse.

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The toads found the cane fields
far too dry for their liking

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and they soon marched off
in search of wetter surroundings

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and food they could actually eat.

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Australia has no native toads

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and now suddenly
here were foreign ones running loose.

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The consequence of that
would be far reaching

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Cane toads are accomplished travelers.

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In rapidly increasing numbers,
they've spread through Australian bush

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and made it to the suburbs.

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Here they found all their most basic needs
provided for.

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Like any other amphibian
cane toads need water to survive

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and in suburbia, there's plenty.

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They don't need to drink it

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they simply soak it up
through their skin.

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The bumpy texture,
a classic feature of a true toad

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channels moisture and keeps it on the skin
while it's absorbed.

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Dehydration can be a real problem
for amphibians,

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but cane toads can loose half their body water
before it becomes life threatening.

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And by huddling in human places
during the heat of the day,

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they can stay even more
agreeably damp.

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But it's after dark
that these animals really come to life

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The back garden is the perfect venue
for a spot of romance.

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Cane toads need water to breed

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and they'll use most kinds of pond
natural or manmade.

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The males start things off,
calling to lure in a local female.

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If she finds a call appealing,

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a female loaded with eggs
will travel quite a distance
to reach the water

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and the chosen male.

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She's made it.

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These toads are opportunists.

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Where water is available,
no matter what time of year,

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there will always be a cane toad
breeding somewhere.

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The male grasps the female
with special pads on his thumbs.

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Now they are virtually inseparable

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as he waits for her to release her eggs
and that can take hours.

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When she's finally ready
they enter the water for spawning.

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He wraps his legs around hers

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and with a wiggle of his hips

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he fertilizes the chains of eggs
that tumble from her body.

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As she spawns, she swims

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festooning the vegetation
with jellied strands 20 m long.

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There may be 30,000 eggs here

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far more than those laid
by any native frog.

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Once laid, they are abandoned
but they are quite safe from harm.

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That's because these eggs
are poisonous

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and will kill almost anything
that eats them.

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This is where the cane toad's mischief
really begins.

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In just 36 hours,
the eggs become larvae.

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The embryos emerge
from their jelly wrapping

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and the water fills with tadpoles.

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In a garden pond,
this would seem merely a nuisance,

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but cane toads have not confined themselves
to the suburbs.

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The natural waterways too
have been invaded

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and here they have really made
their presence felt.

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Native frogs
are facing strong competition.

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Cane toads are simply
far more successful.

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The number of offspring
they produce is phenomenal.

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Vast shoals of tadpoles
tens of thousands of them

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cruise through the shallows
eating all the available food

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and leaving little for anything else.

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They eat mainly algae,

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but they won't say no
to a bit of a dead fish.

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More disturbingly,

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they seem to have developed a taste
for native frog spawn.

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In these numbers,
such ferocious feeders

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could have an impact
on the native frog population.

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However, a massive young animal 
is bond to attract predators.

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These have caught the eye of a crayfish.

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A snap of a claw
and that's one less tadpole.

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It seems as if danger lurks
around every corner

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For a fish like barramundi
tadpoles should be easy meat.

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But there's a twist.

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These tadpoles grew
from poisonous eggs

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and they are even more poisonous now.

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One taste is enough.

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These fish won't touch them again.

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If they swallow one, they'll die.

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In fact, only a fraction of Australian animals
can eat cane toad tadpoles and survive

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And with so little to stop them,
their numbers just grow and grow.

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In the wilds and in suburbia,
the tadpoles get bigger

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and begin the next stage
in their astonishing transformation.

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It takes them just three weeks
to grow limbs, absorb their tail
and develop lungs.

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They are ready for a life on land
far quicker than most native frogs.

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Suddenly they can breathe air
and they can hop.

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The next generation
is marching forth.

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At this stage,
life is dangerous for them.

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The tiny toads have lost the poison
they had as tadpoles

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and they quite likely to get eaten.

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The first enemies they meet
may be their own bigger cousins.

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A juvenile toad will happily
eat a younger one

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as long as it fits in its mouth.

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A lucky escape.

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As they grow up,

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these juvenile toads
not only have a tendency
to eat their relatives,

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they start to become poisonous again

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And this time the poison
is more powerful.

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Glands on their shoulders, carry a toxin
strong enough to kill a snake.

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It seems that nothing can touch
these untouchable toads.

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Nothing, that is except this snake.

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It's a Keelback
and it eats little cane toads.

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It's the only Australian snake
that's immune to their toxins.

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They've met their match.

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If the toads survive their youth,

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they may eventually grow
to more than two kilograms.

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That's big.

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At this size, they are able to
leave water for extended periods.

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And in one night
a single toad may advance
as much as three miles

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And there is not much
to stop them.

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The perils now are mainly from people
and they don't make much of an impact.

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When you are this big,
finding food is a priority.

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Garden night lights are a beacon
for a cane toad in search of a meal,

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Insects drawn to the light
are not difficult to catch.
 
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A feeding toad
is an intriguing sight.

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Having snatched up a morsel
with its tongue

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it draws it into its mouth
and with a colossal blink

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uses its eye balls to help
push it down its throat.

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Cane toads are not fussy feeders.

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They have been known to eat
small snakes, lizards, even mice.

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They seem to have some odd tastes -

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dog food seems a particular favorite

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Where dog food is put out
on the regular basis,

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cane toads will gather
draw in by the smell.

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It appears
they also have rather good memories.

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They'll even hang around with the dogs
waiting for the food to be served.

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They seem to relish
this ready-prepared feast.

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Most frogs and toads
need their food to be moving
in order to see it,

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but not the cane toad.

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It simply tucks in.

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Domestic dogs and cats
can become quite ill and even die

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if they mess with these toxic toads.

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The toads appear unperturbed.

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Such indiscriminate eating habits
have made cane toads
seriously unpopular with some people.

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Australian beekeepers
were among the first to complain

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when the toads were introduced.

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Their hives so carefully tended
soon became a magnetic attraction
 for the new comers.

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The toads discovered a taste for bees

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and ever on the lookout
for new sources of food,

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they soon took the opportunity
of adding this dish to their menu.

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For such an easy meal,

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they seem to be quite prepared
to put out with being stung

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and they gather in groups
to gorge themselves.

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It's this ability to take advantage
of what's on offer

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that's made them so successful.

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Beekeepers try to retaliate
by putting their hives 
up on blocks out of reach

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but the toads soon learnt
that if they hang around long enough,

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dying bees will eventually drop out.

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After that, it's easy... relatively.

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00:20:33,500 --> 00:20:36,950
But what has really made the cane toad
a force to be reckoned with

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is its ability to get around.

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00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:52,550
This creeping Titanian is advancing
at a rate of 16 miles a year.

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00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,450
That's a lot of ground to cover.

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00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:04,650
But some are moving
far greater distances than that

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00:21:04,700 --> 00:21:07,950
and humans unwittingly
are helping them.

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00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:13,450
Cane toads are fond of hiding
in damp, dark places

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00:21:13,500 --> 00:21:16,950
and this has opened up
whole new horizons for them.

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They become stowaways

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00:21:20,500 --> 00:21:24,250
and their means of travel
have sometimes been surprising.

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00:21:38,300 --> 00:21:41,650
Comical as it may seem
for toads to be hitchhiking

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00:21:41,700 --> 00:21:45,550
this is actually
a rather alarming state of affairs.

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00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:51,050
In this age of fast transport

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00:21:51,100 --> 00:21:54,250
cane toads are now popping up
all over the place.

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00:21:54,300 --> 00:21:58,850
They can be taken by mistake
to a new area hundreds of miles away

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00:21:58,900 --> 00:22:01,650
where they may escape and start breeding

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00:22:04,300 --> 00:22:09,350
The rapid advancement 
to these poisonous aliens
is becoming a serious worry

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00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,850
and they are very hard to stop.

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00:22:15,300 --> 00:22:20,050
In 70 years they've infiltrated
almost a 1/5 the continent

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00:22:20,100 --> 00:22:24,450
Since they were first brought
into the Queensland cane fields in 1935

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00:22:24,500 --> 00:22:27,650
the toads have spread steadily
south towards Sydney

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and west into the northern territory.

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00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:35,750
And they show no signs of stopping.

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They are now pushing into 
some of Australia's most 
precious natural landscapes

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00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:53,550
and the outcome
won't be favorable.

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Australia is an island.

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It's split away from the rest of the world
50 million years ago

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and so it's full
of the most extraordinary animals

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that have evolved nowhere else on earth.

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This is a quoll.
It's a marsupial about size of a cat

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00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,350
and it lives in Australia's
northern woodlands.

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It's unique to Australia
and so it's not used to
poisonous foreigners.

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However it's a hunter

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and it might try to make a meal
of something like a toad.

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But any quoll that bit a cane toad
would make a fatal mistake.

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00:24:10,100 --> 00:24:12,750
It will get a mouthful of poison.

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00:24:15,300 --> 00:24:19,450
The glands on the toad's shoulders
produce a cocktail of chemicals

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00:24:19,500 --> 00:24:22,950
which would act quickly
on the heart and nerves of its attacker.

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00:24:27,900 --> 00:24:30,650
The toxins would cause hallucinations

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00:24:30,700 --> 00:24:34,650
heart failure convulsions and death
would soon follow.

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00:24:43,900 --> 00:24:47,750
If a quoll did eat a cane toad,
it will be doomed.

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00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:49,650
Quolls are already rare

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00:24:49,700 --> 00:24:52,450
and it seems that numbers
of this unique little animal

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00:24:52,500 --> 00:24:55,850
have badly affected
wherever the toads have advanced

242
00:24:55,900 --> 00:24:58,850
to lose it completely
would be tragic.

243
00:25:03,700 --> 00:25:06,650
And still the toads push on.

244
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:10,750
The implications are enormous.

245
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:14,950
All sorts of native carnivorous animals
could suffer from this onslaught

246
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,850
and the toads are about
to breach another major frontier.

247
00:25:20,500 --> 00:25:23,750
Kakado National Park
far to the north.

248
00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:26,550
It's the jewel in Australia's crown.

249
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:31,950
This beautiful area
contains a variety of wildlife
such as exists nowhere else.

250
00:25:42,300 --> 00:25:45,650
Alien toads here
could be a disaster

251
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:51,050
and the horror is
they may already be
on the outskirts of the park.

252
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:02,050
There are may animals here
that will die if they try to eat one.

253
00:26:02,100 --> 00:26:07,250
Elsewhere even crocodiles
have been found dead
with cane toads in their mouths

254
00:26:09,100 --> 00:26:13,150
And among those in the front line
are the native frogs.

255
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:16,150
Not only will their waterways
be tainted with poison,

256
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:20,750
they could be overwhelmed
by the sheer numbers of invading toads.

257
00:26:25,900 --> 00:26:29,750
No one is sure just how far
they've infiltrated the park

258
00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:31,950
or if local frogs have yet suffered

259
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,250
but now a stake out
has been set up.

260
00:26:38,500 --> 00:26:42,050
All through the forest,
microphones are listening

261
00:26:42,100 --> 00:26:45,450
scientists are waiting anxiously
for calls.

262
00:26:57,300 --> 00:26:59,550
The Ornate burrowing frog.

263
00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:02,150
That's ok. That's a native.

264
00:27:08,300 --> 00:27:10,250
The bumpy rocket frog

265
00:27:10,300 --> 00:27:12,850
good to know that's still here.

266
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:21,750
Bufo marinus.

267
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:24,850
The cane toad has made it
over the boarder.

268
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:33,050
But the fact is,
listening for their arrival
is all we can do for now.

269
00:27:33,100 --> 00:27:35,150
No one knows how to get rid of them.

270
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,450
Nothing short of a biological marlfare
will do the job.

271
00:27:38,500 --> 00:27:41,950
How strange?
That's what they came here to do.

272
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:47,850
Only time will tell just how big
an impact they will have
on Australia's wildlife.

273
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:54,150
But it's hard not to feel
a sneaking respect
for this sturdy amphibian.

274
00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:58,350
Plucked from its south American home,

275
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:03,050
it settled into a completely
alien environment and is thriving.

276
00:28:04,700 --> 00:28:06,650
They didn't ask to come here.

277
00:28:06,700 --> 00:28:10,850
They were press ganged by humans
desperate for their skills.

278
00:28:11,500 --> 00:28:14,050
Now the tables have turned.

279
00:28:14,500 --> 00:28:20,050
Citizen cane toad is no longer welcome
to these shores.

280
00:28:21,700 --> 00:28:44,350
Subtitles by Andrew and Hattie
www.mvgroup.org