The Cane Toad is the largest species in its family. Cane Toads will often blend in with its surrounding to hide itself from predators. Their back and sides may vary from olive-brown or reddish-brown, gray and yellow while their bellies are semi-yellow or semi-white with darker mottling. They have a round flat body, a prominent corneal crests, and light middorsal stripes. Their front feet are unwebbed while their back feet have leathery tough webbing. Cane Toads have short legs, a ridged bony head that extends forward from their eyes to their nose. Behind their ears are the parotid glands, which may cause their head to look swollen.
Ten Facts about Cane Toad
- Adult Cane Toads are usually heavy-built and weigh an average of up to 1.8kg. (4 lbs.). Their size may vary from 15-23 cm.(4-9 in.).
- The cane toad is native to the Americas, and its range stretches from the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas to the central Amazon and south-eastern Peru. The density was recorded to be 20 adults per 100 metres (109 yards) of shoreline, 50-100 times lower than the density in Australia.
- These include the Broad-snouted Caiman, the Banded Cat-eyed Snake, the eel , various species of killifish, the Rock flagtail species of catfish and some species of ibis.
- They eat a wide range of material; in addition to the normal prey of small rodents, reptiles, other amphibians, birds and a range of invertebrates, they also eat plants.
- When the toads are threatened, their glands secrete a milky-white fluid known as bufotoxin.[36] Components of bufotoxin are toxic to many animals.
- The cane toad can also locate food using its sense of smell.
- A female lays 8,000-25,000 eggs at once.
- Tadpoles typically hatch within 48 hours, but the period can vary from 14 hours up to almost a week.
- Tadpoles range from 10 to 25 mm (0.39 to 0.98 in) in length.
- They are also know as Giant Neotropical Toad or Marine Toad.
