cane-toad
When you hear the word ‘cane toad’ you probably just think of a normal toad that eats bugs. This toad was brought to many places away from its native habitat for pest control. The people released the cane toad but they didn’t know that this toad would destroy the entire ecosystem. The cane toad was first brought to kill rats but that didn’t work. So, they decided to kill beetles with them which showed a bit better result so they got excited. As usual, the local predators soon became aware of the new toad and wanted to taste it. But the cane toad was prepared for that too. It even allowed the predators to eat them half because they knew they just had to wait for a little. Believe it or not, this toad actually had venom in its skin, and whenever it was threatened by a predator it released a poisonous liquid that could actually kill the animals. The smaller the animal the faster it would die. Due to this many local predators died because of eating the toads. We need to stop the cane toad before it makes local predators go extinct. If local predators went extinct the entire food chain would be disturbed which would not be good for the ecosystem. Of course, there are animals, birds, and insects that have managed to eat the cane toad without getting killed. For example, crows flip cane toads upside down so that they don’t receive a dosage of poison and then eat the soft guts. They also bring the toads to trees so that they are helpless. Ants also eat cane toads and don’t get poisoned. But nevertheless, we need to stop the cane toad because they can still make local predators go extinct.
