bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Australian rangers have killed an invasive “monster” cane toad discovered in the wilds of a coastal park – a warty brown specimen as long as a human arm and weighing 2.7kg (6 pounds).
The toad was spotted after a snake slithering across a track forced wildlife workers to stop as they were driving in Queensland’s Conway National Park, the state government said.
“I reached down and grabbed the cane toad and couldn’t believe how big and heavy it was,” ranger Kylee Gray said, describing how she discovered the amphibian last week.
“A cane toad that size will eat anything it can fit into its mouth, and that includes insects, reptiles and small mammals.”

The animal was taken away and euthanised.
Cane toads were introduced into Queensland in 1935 to control the cane beetle, with devastating consequences for other wildlife.
At 2.7kg – nearly the weight of a newborn human baby – the toad may be a record breaker, the Queensland Department of Environment and Science said in a statement.
Describing it as a “monster”, the department said it could end up in the Queensland Museum.
A cane toad trying to mate with a mango. What’s Australia’s problem?
Due to its size, rangers believe it was a female.
While the age is unknown, “this one has been around a long time”, Gray said, explaining that the amphibians can live as long as 15 years in the wild.
Female cane toads can produce up to 30,000 eggs in a season, and the animals are incredibly poisonous, causing local extinctions of some of their predators.


UK needs an independent China policy, not just a Trump hedge

As traditional US allies hedge their bets, will China be the one to cash in?

Australian drug lord Tony Mokbel walks free: ‘I don’t regret anything’

Outrage in Philippines as socialite Heart Evangelista, ‘nepo babies’ return to spotlight

Australia

Australia uncovers ‘monster’ cane toad weighing same as newborn human baby

A park ranger holds the “monster” cane toad, weighing 2.7kg, that was discovered in Australia’s Conway National Park earlier this month. Photo: Queensland Department of Environment and Science Handout via AFP

At 2.7kg – nearly the weight of a newborn human baby – the toad may be a record breaker. Photo: Queensland Department of Environment and Science Handout via AFP

China, Vietnam, Laos are hotspots for the criminal wildlife trade: does Asia really care about biodiversity?

On a ‘Buy and Sell Wildlife’ Facebook page, brokers show photos of animals and animal parts for sale. Photo: Facebook

Six red pandas in cages in Laos, of which only three survived, confiscated from wildlife traffickers. File photo: AFP

The online post with this picture of a chained monkey said: “Anybody wanna hang, wanna get rid of, don’t have time to feed”. Photo: Facebook

Pangolin scales and other animal parts for sale. Photo: Facebook

Elephant tusks seized in Vietnam and Thailand. File photo: AFP

Jailing Indonesians for shark-finning in Australia doesn’t solve the real driver – poverty

An Indonesian fisherman cuts the fin of a shark in Lampulo fish market in Banda Aceh. Desperate Indonesian fishers are setting out across the Arafura Sea in record numbers, with 46 fishing boats detected since June. Photo: AFP

Shark fins are sought mainly in Chinese markets for use in a high-status soup and in traditional medicine. Photo: AFP

Shark fins are laid out on a tarp outside a shop in Hong Kong. In 2011, China launched a campaign to make shark fin soup unpopular, driving demand down 80 per cent. But demand is still high in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and rising fast in places like Vietnam and Thailand. Photo: AFP

Workers lay out pieces of shark fin to dry on a rooftop of a factory building in Hong Kong. Photo: Reuters

This Weird Year in Asia: monkey sex, toilet water beer, a ‘bachelor’s handbag’

Wild monkeys. Photo: Yves Sieur

McDonald’s breakfast food items seized by Australian airport border guards earlier this year. Photo: Australian Ministry of Agriculture/AFP

NEWBrew is made from NEWater, Singapore’s own brand of ultra-clean and high-grade recycled water. Photo: Instagram/PUB Singapore

The mascot choice for the 2025 Osaka World Expo left many scratching their heads. Photo: Kyodo

This Indonesian sanctuary is changing minds on animal rights, one pig at a time

The Sehati Animal Sanctuary gives sanctuary to almost 300 animals. Photo: Handout

To be added....

Sehati02

Sehati04

The Sehati Animal Sanctuary gives sanctuary to almost 300 animals – mostly chickens, goats, rabbits and sheep, plus a few stray cats and dogs. Photo: Handout

‘Worse than redback spiders’: the Chinese insect invasion threatening Japan

A close-up of the head of a fire ant. Photo: Corbis

A red fire ant. File photo

Stock Photo: Relative of the Black Widow, the Redback spider Image ID: 2354584 Release information: N/A Copyright: Damian Herde/ Shutterstock Images

Red fire ants mound.

A Fire Ant prepares to bite the photographer's finger, in Tsiu Keng Leng, located in an area severely infested with Fire Ants. 07APR16 [17APRIL2016 FEATURES POST MAGAZINE] PHOTO / Antony DICKSON

RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE-MANDATORY CREDIT" AFP PHOTO / DAVID E.SCOTT, SAVANNAH RIVER ECOLOGY LABORATORY, AIKEN, SC, USA"-NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS-DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS-- A hand out undated picture made available by Nature magazine on August 31, 2011, of a green anole lizard (Anolis carolinensis) at the Savannah River Site, in South Carolina. The genome sequence of the North American green anole lizard is published in Nature this week, revealing that the first reptile genome sequence, could be important for understanding the evolution of the amniotic egg and of vertebrate evolution more generally. AFP PHOTO DAVID E.SCOTT, SAVANNAH RIVER ECOLOGY LABORATORY, AIKEN, SC, USA / AFP PHOTO / Savannah River Ecology Laborator / David E. Scott

TO GO WITH STORY TITLED FISHY INVASION--A researcher shows a largemouth black bass fry, one of the foreign species invading the imperial moats in Tokyo, Oct. 25, 2001. Prey to stronger, flesh-eating species from the United States, indigenous fish in the imperial moats and just about everywhere else in Japan are vanishing. Despite government efforts, experts fear the spread of the underwater aliens is almost certain to get worse. (AP Photop/Tsugufumi Matsumoto)

News

Asia

Australasia

The 2.7kg toad was spotted in Queensland’s Conway National Park and could be the largest ever found. It was taken away and later euthanised
Cane toads are an invasive species in Australia. They were introduced about 100 years ago to control the cane beetle, with devastating consequences


‘I couldn’t believe how big and heavy it was’, said the ranger who uncovered the 2.7kg amphibian. ‘A cane toad that size will eat anything it can fit into its mouth’.


Animals

Environment

Conservation

Queensland