Australian cane toads caught with disco lights

This 2019 video says about itself:

Of all the species introduced to Australia since European settlement, few have become as synonymous with Australian culture as the cane toad, and so in this video we discuss the introduction of the cane toad to Australia, their spread across the nation and what we can do about them.

Cane toads where first introduced to Australia when 102 toads where brought from Hawaii in an attempt to control the cane grub or grey back beatle. While the cane toads failed to control the cane beatle, they adapted to the Australian landscape quickly and spread across the country, since then the cane toad is found in New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. As the toads moved across northern Australia they decimated populations of predators such as northern quolls and monitor lizards.

Australia: cane toads caught with disco lights

Date: 9/4/05 at 4:54AM

Mood: Looking

Playing: Jump, by The Pointer Sisters

Associated Press reports:

DARWIN, Australia Sep 4, 2005

The dreaded cane toad might have met its match: disco-style ultraviolet lights.

Northern Territory researchers said Sunday they have been successful using dark ultraviolet lights the same as those used in nightclubs to lure and trap the pests that are killing off many of Australia’s native animals.

“We’ve found that the old toads are definitely a disco animal”, Frogwatch coordinator Graham Sawyer said.

As part of the so-called “Toad Buster” project, the researchers caught more than 200 cane toads in three weeks at a location south of Darwin.

After using red and blue moving lights that failed to attract the amphibians, Sawyer said they tried dark UV lights that were an instant success.

Cane toads were imported to the northeastern state of Queensland in 1935 in a failed attempt to control beetles on sugar cane plantations.

The poisonous toads have since migrated to Australia’s northern coast and south.

Sawyer said more than 1,500 toads had been caught at the site since January.

Cane toads were imported to the northeastern state of Queensland in 1935 in a failed attempt to control beetles on sugar cane plantations.

The poisonous toads have since migrated to Australia’s northern coast and south.

Sawyer said more than 1,500 toads had been caught at the site since January.

Cane toads are also in Artis zoo in Amsterdam, in the nocturnal animals’ building.

California red-legged frog, inspiration for Mark Twain, threatened: here.

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