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https://theconversation.com/is-toadzilla-a-sign-of-enormous-cane-toads-to-come-its-possible-toads-grow-as-large-as-their-environment-allows-195929>
"Last week, the world met “Toadzilla”, a cane toad the size of a football and
six times larger than average. The rangers who found her – female toads are
bigger than male – were stunned. Weighing in at 2.7 kilograms, Toadzilla may be
the largest cane toad ever recorded.
Is this a sign Australia’s cane toads are getting bigger? Not necessarily. Like
all other “cold-blooded” or ectothermic animals, cane toads don’t have a limit
to their body size like mammals and birds do. They can keep growing their
entire lives. Researchers have found toads at the front of the invasion wave
get bigger quicker due to more prey.
But there’s another possibility too. Last year, we found toads in urban areas
have smaller parotid (toxin) glands than those in rural areas. That might be
because bush toads experience higher predation, selecting for more toxins. In
nature, an easy way to select for larger toxin glands is to make the whole
animal bigger.
Given many native animals, reptiles and birds have now figured out how to eat
these toads, we may possibly see more Toadzilla contenders in future."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
