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Gigantic Cane Toad Found, Promptly Euthanized
Gigantic Cane Toad Found,
Promptly Euthanized
in case you missed it

Gigantic Cane Toad Found, Promptly Euthanized

'Toadzilla' may be a record-setter

(Newser) - If this toad is so big it looks fake to you, you're not alone: Wildlife officers reportedly felt the same way. While patrolling a rainforest in Queensland, Australia, rangers had to stop their vehicle upon finding a snake blocking the path. When they got out to take a closer...

NPS' Latest Warning Is a 'Toad-Ally Terrifying' One

Agency issues directive to visitors to not lick toxic Sonoran desert toads in the parks

(Newser) - It's the warning from the National Park Service we didn't know we needed: Stop licking the toads. It's one type of toad in particular—the Sonoran desert toad (also known as the Colorado river toad), which NPR describes as a creature that's about 7 inches long...

Frog Mystery Surfaces at Iron Age Settlement
Frog Mystery
Surfaces at
Iron Age
Settlement
new study

Frog Mystery Surfaces at Iron Age Settlement

Archaeologists can't explain their bones at ancient site

(Newser) - Excavations carried out ahead of highway work in England have revealed a mass grave full of … long-dead frogs. Experts are at a loss to explain the mass of 8,000 bones from roughly 350 frogs and toads, found buried in a long ditch beside an excavated roundhouse at Bar...

Porn Star Arrested in Deadly Toad Venom Case

Nacho Vidal is manslaughter suspect after photographer dies after reported shamanic ritual

(Newser) - Last July, fashion photographer Jose Luis Abad died in Spain after authorities say he inhaled vapors from toad venom during a shamanic ritual. Now, the Guardian and BBC report three people have been arrested, including a porn star who hawks penis-shaped candles on Twitter . Nacho Vidal (real name: Ignacio Jorda...

Fla. 'Burb Overrun by Scads of Poisonous Toads

The bufo toad is apparently feeling a little amorous

(Newser) - A Florida suburb is being plagued by thousands of poisonous toads, reports the AP . Experts say the amphibians are bufo toads, also known as cane toads. Residents in the infested Palm Beach Gardens neighborhood worry toxins secreted by the toads will harm their pets and children. News stations broadcast images...

Sometimes Nature Is Beautiful. This Isn't One of Those Times

Beetle spews chemicals from butt to get toads to puke

(Newser) - Planet Earth has been holding out on us. Apparently, there's a beetle that escapes certain death in the belly of a toad by shooting a toxic, 212-degree chemical mix from its butt, causing the toad to vomit, Gizmodo reports. This stunning example of nature's grossness comes courtesy of...

Thousands of Endangered Tadpoles Fly to Puerto Rico

Crested toad is on the comeback trail

(Newser) - More than 4,000 wiggling tadpoles conceived via wine fridges in California and then packed in a passenger plane headed to Puerto Rico this week as part of a program to re-establish a technicolor native toad once thought extinct. Since 2014, the Oakland Zoo has taken part in a campaign...

Early Stonehenge Menu: Roasted Toad
Early Stonehenge Menu:
Roasted Toad

Early Stonehenge Menu: Roasted Toad

Archeologists find clues about diet in earlier site about a mile away

(Newser) - Frog legs may be a delicacy in France, but early Brits apparently came up with the idea first: An archeological dig about a mile from Stonehenge has turned up a cooked leg bone from a toad, reports the AP . "We ate frogs legs before the French," trumpets the...

Toad-Kissing Chef Fined
 Toad-Kissing Chef Fined 

Toad-Kissing Chef Fined

Inspectors not charmed by chef's toad-licking video

(Newser) - There's no place for toad kissing in restaurant kitchens, health inspectors warned an Iowa chef. The man was fined $335 after inspectors saw a video of him licking and kissing two small toads before putting them in his mouth, then placing them on a prep table, the AP reports. The...

Toads Can Predict Earthquakes
 Toads Can Predict Earthquakes 

Toads Can Predict Earthquakes

Pick up on pre-seismic cues days ahead of quake

(Newser) - Three days before a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck L'Aquila, Italy, last year, nearby toads left their breeding colony, not to return until several days after the quake. That's unusual enough behavior that the scientist studying the toads think the amphibians must have detected seismic activity—the first-ever evidence of animals...

Aussies Croak Toxic Toads
 Aussies Croak 
 Toxic Toads 

Aussies Croak Toxic Toads

(Newser) - Aussies killed thousands of "toxic" cane toads today in an annual hunting festival to help reduce their ravenous numbers, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. The toads were introduced in 1935 from South American to eat pest beetles, but they now number in the millions and are driving out local...

11 Stories