Cane Toads

CANE TOADS DESTRUCTION TO AUSTRALIAS BIODIVERSITY
‘It is important that communities in the Kimberley are ready to deal with the invasive species’ - Donna Faragher
IDENTIFICATION
Cane Toads are known to be of a variety of colour they may be grey, yellowish, olive-brown or reddish-brown, and their bellies are pale with dark mottling. An adult’s average-size is approximately 10-15 cm long; they can grow to more than 230mm and over 1kg in weight. Male Cane Toads are smaller and wartier than females. The toads are heavily built amphibians with dry warty skin.
Young toads have smooth, dark skin and lack the visible glands, which the adults possess. Adult Cane Toads have outsized swellings - the parotoid glands - on each shoulder behind the eardrum.
They are smaller (less than 3.5 cm long) than most native tadpoles. The cane toad produces spawn in long strings of transparent jelly enclosing double rows of black eggs about 1mm in diameter. The spawn tangles in dense dark masses around water plants.
Adult Cane Toads are active at night during the warm months of the year. They tend to seek shelter during cold or dry weather; they can survive the loss of up to 50% of their body water and temperatures ranging from 5-40 degrees Celsius. They are highly adaptable to a range of environmental and climatic conditions which is the reasons for their fast expansion, they now inhabit most of Australia’s tropics and sub-tropics and have reached now Western Australia

WHY CANE TOADS ARE CONSIDERED PESTS IN AUSTRALIA?
The Cane Toad has no natural predators within Australia, their toxin can kill most native animals, thus they pose a risk to both flora and fauna.
- Cane toads use a wide variety of habitats within urbanized and disturbed areas to thrive
- The toad breeds rapidly allowing them to colonies and dominate an area within a short time period
- Its abilities give the toad a competitive advantage
- Poisons pets and injure humans with their
WYNDHAM
The Shire of Wyndham, East Kimberley recognises the significance and potential impact of the invasion of Cane Toads to the Kimberley region and is committed to being actively involved in initiatives that aim to address this