Post by Patrick Kubeja on Feb 15, 2005 10:01:03 GMT -5
Australian Noah's Ark Program Combats Cane Toad
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian conservationists are combating an invasion of poisonous cane toads through a modern-day Noah's Ark program, taking pairs of endangered animals to toad-free islands to breed safely.
Under "Project Island Ark" a pair of quoll, think of a small house cat with spots, and a pair of golden bandicoots were relocated to the toad-free English Company Islands off Australia's north coast and are now breeding happily.
"The quolls are now in the third generation on the islands and are in better health and condition than those on the mainland," program's director Rob Taylor told Reuters.
"Cane toads are still a problem. They are fantastic hitch-hikers. We are trying to work with barge companies to try and prevent cane toads from trying to get onto the islands."
Australia has for decades fought unsuccessfully to stop the spread of cane toads, imported from Hawaii in 1935 in a failed attempt to combat greyback beetles which were threatening the country's tropical northern sugar cane fields.
The toads now number in the millions and have highly poisonous sacs behind their head which quickly kill native animals, such as quolls, that prey on them.
Cane toads are so toxic that crocodiles, death adder snakes and wild dingo dogs can die within 15 minutes of cardiac arrest after eating a toad.
Australia's cane toad population now spreads from the coastal sugar cane fields into the fragile wetlands of Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory.
Female cane toads can lay 8,000 to 35,000 eggs at a time and may produce two clutches a year. The toads reach maturity within a year and have a lifespan of at least five years.
In the latest attempt to reduce the soaring numbers of toads, the Northern Territory government has launched a trap competition, with A$15,000 ($7,900) prizemoney for the best cane toad trap.
Information found at Yahoo News
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian conservationists are combating an invasion of poisonous cane toads through a modern-day Noah's Ark program, taking pairs of endangered animals to toad-free islands to breed safely.
Under "Project Island Ark" a pair of quoll, think of a small house cat with spots, and a pair of golden bandicoots were relocated to the toad-free English Company Islands off Australia's north coast and are now breeding happily.
"The quolls are now in the third generation on the islands and are in better health and condition than those on the mainland," program's director Rob Taylor told Reuters.
"Cane toads are still a problem. They are fantastic hitch-hikers. We are trying to work with barge companies to try and prevent cane toads from trying to get onto the islands."
Australia has for decades fought unsuccessfully to stop the spread of cane toads, imported from Hawaii in 1935 in a failed attempt to combat greyback beetles which were threatening the country's tropical northern sugar cane fields.
The toads now number in the millions and have highly poisonous sacs behind their head which quickly kill native animals, such as quolls, that prey on them.
Cane toads are so toxic that crocodiles, death adder snakes and wild dingo dogs can die within 15 minutes of cardiac arrest after eating a toad.
Australia's cane toad population now spreads from the coastal sugar cane fields into the fragile wetlands of Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory.
Female cane toads can lay 8,000 to 35,000 eggs at a time and may produce two clutches a year. The toads reach maturity within a year and have a lifespan of at least five years.
In the latest attempt to reduce the soaring numbers of toads, the Northern Territory government has launched a trap competition, with A$15,000 ($7,900) prizemoney for the best cane toad trap.
Information found at Yahoo News
