A documentary about a gaggle of delightfully eccentric local-yokel Australians (plus a few scientists) and their relationship with many toads from Hawaii who sport poisonous skin.
I do 99% of my bloggery in my cubicle at work - usually on my lunch break. I basically have an hour to let my hands flop around on the keyboard and hope something I deem OK comes out of it all. Sometimes my neck becomes sore if I do any blogging that is not on a lunch break. I constantly have to turn my head to see if my manager is watching what I am doing. It reeks havoc on the 'ole neck and spine.
So.
Today.
In order to save myself from a sore neck I'm going to post this wondrous documentary that some very kind person uploaded in its entirety to Youtube. It's out of print on DVD and VHS. The OOP status makes it a fairly expensive item to want to hold in your hands.
Basically, it showcases what happened when (in the 30s) the Hawaiian sugar-cane toad was imported into Australia to get rid of a crop-destroying beetle. The importation of the toads was based on poor information. The toads have no natural enemy in Australia mainly because of their poisonous skins so it was not long before they themselves became a cumbersome nuisance to almost half the continent!
These toads are not only horrifyingly huge but deadly, too:
Fish who eat (the cane toad) toadpoles die. Animals who eat young toads and adults die. The museums have plenty of snakes preserved in jars which were killed by toad toxin so fast, the toad is still in their mouths unswallowed. Even small amounts of water which toadpoles have gotten into, such as a pet's water dish, can be poisoned by toadpoles. When the pet comes along to drink from it's dish, it becomes sick. Local vets report that a couple dogs a month are brought in ill just from mouthing toads.
The documentary is odd, hilarious and educational!
Dig it:
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