A “giant cane toad” the size of several newborn human infants was spotted in North Queensland by Australian rangers. The massive cane toad, dubbed “Toadzilla,” was discovered by rangers in Queensland’s Conway National Park and weighed 2.7kg (nearly 6lbs), potentially setting a new world record, according to the Queensland Department of Environment and Science on Friday. Ranger Kylee Gray was driving through the park last week when she was forced to halt by a snake crawling across a trail. Gray described stepping out of the car and being met with a cane toad whose sheer size made her gasp.
“I reached down and grabbed the cane toad and couldn’t believe how huge and heavy it was,” Gray said. “We named it Toadzilla and promptly placed it in a container so we could get it out of the wild,” she said. “A cane toad that large can consume whatever it can fit into its mouth, including insects, reptiles, and small animals,” Gray said, adding that Toadzilla was thought to be female. According to Gray, the toad looked “nearly like a football with legs,” according to ABC News in Australia. The extraordinary size of the toad, found at a height of 393 meters (1,289 feet), has piqued the curiosity of park rangers and others. “The Queensland Museum is interested in collecting her because she might be the biggest ever recorded,” Gray said, adding that cane toads can live for up to 15 years. However, Toadzilla’s life was cut short. According to the ABC, the toad was “euthanized” and was scheduled to be taken to the Queensland Museum in Brisbane.
Cane toads are a non-native species imported to Australia from South and Central America in 1935 to manage pest insects in the sugarcane sector of Queensland prior to the introduction of agricultural pesticides.
They are capable of poisoning predators that try to eat them, and according to the Australian government, “there is no broad scale way to control” cane toads, which are now found throughout northern Australia and are moving westward at an estimated rate of 40 to 60 km (approximately 25 to 37 miles) per year. Female cane toads can lay up to 30,000 eggs in a single season.
