The cane toad has poison glands behind the eyes

The cane toad ( Bufo marinus ), also known as the giant neotropical toad or marine toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad which is native to Central and South America, but has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania and the Caribbean.

The cane toad is a prolific breeder ; females lay single-clump spawns with thousands of eggs.

The cane toad is an old species.

A fossil toad ( specimen UCMP 41159 ) from the La Venta fauna of the late Miocene of Colombia is indistinguishable from modern cane toads from northern South America.

The cane toad has poison glands, and the tadpoles are highly toxic to most animals if ingested.

Because of its voracious appetite, the cane toad has been introduced to many regions of the Pacific and the Caribbean islands as a method of agricultural pest control.

The cane toad is now considered a pest and an invasive species in many of its introduced regions ; of particular concern is its toxic skin, which kills many animals — native predators and otherwise — when ingested.

The cane toad has many other common names, including " giant toad " and " marine toad "; the former refers to its size and the latter to the binomial name, Bufo marinus.

Linnaeus based the specific epithet marinus on an illustration by Dutch zoologist Albertus Seba, who mistakenly believed the cane toad to inhabit both terrestrial and marine environments.

The subgenus Rhinella is increasingly considered to constitute a distinct genus of its own, thus changing the scientific name of the cane toad.

A light-coloured cane toad

These species can be distinguished from the cane toad by the absence of large parotoid glands behind their eyes and the lack of a ridge between the nostril and the eye.

In the United States, the cane toad closely resembles many bufonid species.

alt = A juvenile cane toad, showing many of the features of the adult toads, but without the large parotoid glands

The cane toad is very large ; the females are significantly longer than males, reaching an average length of.

The skin of the cane toad is dry and warty.

The juvenile cane toad is much smaller than the adult cane toad at long.

The British introduced sugar cane which was to become the main crop and source of foreign trade, and slaves were brought from Africa to work on the sugar cane plantations.

Despite its failure to control the rodents, the cane toad was introduced to Puerto Rico in the early 20th century in the hope that it would counter a beetle infestation ravaging the sugarcane plantations.

Following the apparent success of the cane toad in eating the beetles threatening the sugarcane plantations of Puerto Rico, and the fruitful introductions into Hawaii and the Philippines, there was a strong push for the cane toad to be released in Australia to negate the pests that were ravaging the Queensland cane fields.

However, the toad was generally unsuccessful in reducing the targeted beetles, in part because the cane fields provided insufficient shelter for the predators during the day.

The cane toad was introduced to various Caribbean islands to counter a number of pests infesting local crops.

In 1920, the cane toad was introduced into Puerto Rico to control the populations of white-grub ( Phyllophaga spp.

A second group of toads was imported in 1923, and by 1932, the cane toad was well established.

The population of white-grubs dramatically decreased, and this was attributed to the cane toad at the annual meeting of the International Sugar Cane Technologists in Puerto Rico.

The six-year period after 1931 — when the cane toad was most prolific, and the white-grub saw dramatic decline — saw the highest-ever rainfall for Puerto Rico.

Nevertheless, the cane toad was assumed to have controlled the white-grub ; this view was reinforced by a Nature article titled " Toads save sugar crop ", and this led to large-scale introductions throughout many parts of the Pacific.

The cane toad was introduced into Fiji to combat insects that infested sugarcane plantations.

The introduction of the cane toad to the region was first suggested in 1933, following the successes in Puerto Rico and Hawaii.

The cane toad was successfully introduced into New Guinea to control the hawk moth larvae eating sweet potato crops.

A similar situation had previously arisen in the Australian cane fields, but this experience was either unknown or ignored in New Guinea.

It was still served as a beverage, but the Europeans added cane sugar to counteract the natural bitterness and removed the chili pepper while retaining the vanilla, in addition they added cinnamon as well as other spices.

Sugar cane was introduced to Hispaniola from the Canary Islands, and the first sugar mill in the New World was established in 1516, on Hispaniola.

Nicknamed the " Pearl of the Antilles ," it became the richest and most prosperous colony in the West Indies, with a slave society based on sugar cane production when demand for sugar was high in Europe.

The 40-year-old Brabham was annoyed by press stories about his age and, in a highly uncharacteristic stunt, at the Dutch Grand Prix he hobbled to his car on the starting grid before the race wearing a long false beard and leaning on a cane before going on to win the race.

Muscle weakness did not improve, and the patient needed first a cane, then crutches.

The term " antibacterial " derives from Greek ἀντί ( anti ), " against " + βακτήριον ( baktērion ), diminutive of βακτηρία ( baktēria ), " staff, cane ", because the first ones to be discovered were rod-shaped, and the term " antibiotic " derives from anti + βιωτικός ( biōtikos ), " fil for life, lively ", which comes from βίωσις ( biōsis ), " way of life ", and that from βίος ( bios ), " life ".

In Dune: House Harkonnen, the deteriorating Baron at first walks with the assistance of a cane, then relies on belt-mounted suspensors to retain mobility.

Werewolves are often depicted as immune to damage caused by ordinary weapons, being vulnerable only to silver objects, such as a silver-tipped cane, bullet or blade ; this attribute was first adopted cinematically in The Wolf Man.

The first special White Cane Ordinance was passed in December 1930 in Peoria, Illinois granting blind pedestrians protections and the right-of-way while carrying a white cane.

This changed in 1846 when Samuel Phillippe made the first six strips of Calcutta cane.

This routine also marks Astaire's first use of a cane as a prop in one of his filmed dances.

In the first part of the solo which follows, Astaire embarks on a circular tap movement, embellished with cane taps into which he mixes a series of unpredictable pauses.

The first slaves were transported by Pedro de Heredia and were used as cane cutters to open roads, as laborers to destroy the tombs of the aboriginal population of Sinú, and to construct buildings and fortresses.

* The first known reference to sugar cane appears in writings by Alexander the Great's admiral Nearchus, who writes of Indian reeds " that produce honey, although there are no bees ".

The first attempt at growing cane on a large scale was made in 1883 by John Closner, who established a plantation and mill near the site of present-day Pharr.

Settlers first came to the Cotton Plant area covered in dense timber and cane from neighboring states in 1820, these squatters named the community Richmond.

Sung by the title character, the brothers jokingly throw Joseph out of the family home, throwing a number of props at the lone Joseph who is seen in a spotlight – first a suitcase, then a cane and top hat, leaving our hero to tap-dance his way to the end of the number.

The candy cane has been mentioned in literature since 1866, was first mentioned in association with Christmas in 1874, and as early as 1882 was hung on Christmas trees.

During the first five years Barre's government set up several cooperative farms and factories of mass production such as mills, sugar cane processing facilities in Jowhar and Afgooye, and a meat processing house in Kismayo.

Besides a change in his personal appearance ( Fred has grown a long beard, his hair has turned white and he needs a cane ) he first finds out that Slate Company has gone out of business.

Within two years, they had established the first steam mill in Louisiana to be used for grinding sugar cane.

In a later match, Dreamer kayfabe accidentally blinded The Sandman, first by knocking a lit cigarette into his eye, then hitting in the other with a Singapore cane.

They did report on the native custom of drying leaves, inserting them in cane pipes, burning them, and inhaling the smoke: the first European encounter with tobacco.

Since the first animated series and Batman Forever, Riddler often carries a trick " question mark " cane.

Ojeda introduced sugar cane into the area, and the San Juan Bautista Nogales sugar mill – one of the earliest, if not the very first on the American continent – was later established there.

The Navy sent two officers to cane Cole as a punishment but Cole countered that it was they who should be caned because they had been fooled in the first place.