Invasion of the Toxic Toads: Nature's Most Successful Failure

They prefer suburban living, they’ll eat anything in sight (including each other), and…they’re taking over the world?
This Earth Month, say hello to the Cane Toad: the epitome of failing upward. Wishfully introduced as a solution to a problem, cane toads have become the problem themselves. They’ve established themselves as an extremely successful invasive species… by doing nothing? Join the Fascinating Fails team as we look into how Cane Toads keep taking over ecosystems and what an ‘invasive species’ means in the era of climate change. Plus, find out ways YOU can help fight the climate crisis-it’s as simple as taking a picture!
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[@danielnaberhaus5337]

Ducks would actually eat the bugs and leave the sugar cane alone. Ducks can combat locust swarms. The world needs more ducks.

[@DBT1007]

local ducks to be exact. and some duck species can only eat plants and small insects. some ducks, can eat snails and stuff.

[@ricardoxavier827]

Honey badger eats poison snakes...

[@ricardoxavier827]

Australia needs a new invader...

[@toadbustersflorida]

Terrific episode about invasive species and cane toads. Thank you for visiting us in Florida, and including Toad Busters & our founder Jeannine Tilford. We appreciate you and the good work you do on Fascinating Fails!

[@pbsterra]

Thank you for having us!

[@patrickfitzgerald2861]

And the truth is they are failing completely. What is your state government doing about this?

[@FusionDeveloper]

If only I could have all the cane toads to myself... I love how they are the "tank" of all toad species.

[@onyxianna]

I would love to work for you. If I could afford it, I'd even travel the 15 hours back and forth between home and you to do so. I love protecting native species, and this seems like one of the first good ideas regarding cane toads I have seen in a while. It seems actually feasible.

[@kyt-nh1ef]

If there's something strange, in the poisoned woods, who ya gonna call? TOAD BUSTERS!

[@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958]

My girlfriend's dog was killed by a cane toad. She knew what it was and grabbed the dog and drove to the vet just a mile away. The dog was dead before she got halfway there.

[@IanPendleton-gh6ox]

So sorry to hear about that. I've lost my own pet recently, so my heart goes out to you.

[@Cudddlefish]

“Nature’s Most Successful Failure” will be the title of my memoir.

[@eljanrimsa5843]

How many species on how many continents have you driven to extinction so far?

[@overtonhallford54]

Word is that some white ibis have been seen eating them. The ibis picks one up and smack them around until the toads glands are empty, then they rinse off the toad in water.

[@raclark2730]

Huh found a dead toad in the water the other day just so happens Ibis frequent the spot.

[@Devo491]

In Australia, the crows have learned to flip them over and eat the underside.

[@dozermc5220]

Here in Queensland Australia it's standard to make high school students bring their own cane toads into biology class for dissection.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

It's eerie how those toxic toads have been able to destroy Australia's ecosystem. Even their eggs were killing fish & everything else even crocs. Only rats that can flip them over to eat their abdomin can kill these sucker's. It's such a out of control situation.

[@PhilthySteel]

Theres a bird thats figured out which bit to eat too mate, its just nature is too slow to react to an invasion like cane toads.

[@sten4982]

Our meat ants take care of them as well. Very bitey ants those things.

[@A3Kr0n]

Invasion of the Clever Humans: Nature's Most Successful Failure. I felt that would make a good follow up video.

[@franceshorton918]

I had the same thought! WE are the extra carbon the world needs to get rid of. A sad reality. And 9 billion of us by 2050. It's unsustainable.

[@Trask899]

Its funny, my only frame of reference for the toad problem and even learning what an invasive specks was is from an episode of the Simpsons when Bart brings over the frog which spreads quickly. Another excellent episode which was not only informative, but fun and funny to watch with all the creative blurbs and fascinating discussions.

[@andersonic]

Back in the days of VHS the 1988 documentary "Cane Toads: An Unnatural History" was a cult classic. Shame it's more relevant than ever but this is a delightful update.

[@elijahnewell8064]

I love how this lady is describing this frog like a serial killer, providing a full record of the ecological disaster it has caused, and the frog is just sitting there like 👁👄👁

[@Achill101]

I'm missing ideas in the video about how to keep cane toads in check.

[@patrickfitzgerald2861]

There are none.

[@raclark2730]

A golf club and a chainsaw visor for the splatter. There are also some signs of natural predation mostly from birds. There is also a species of water snake that has been observed eating toadpoles. There seems to be less toads and toad spawning in my area and also quite a few sickly and slugish specimens. Could be so form of disease maybe. That's just from my observation, so waiting to see if anyone else can confirm that.

[@eljanrimsa5843]

Not bring them to new ecosystems

[@raclark2730]

@@eljanrimsa5843 It was done when people had a poor understanding of these things. Nobody uses them anymore.

[@franceshorton918]

They're not in New Zealand, thank God. Thank our vigilant Customs and Biological controls at airports and wharves. Thank our cold weather and already polluted, unattractive rivers. The cane toads wouldn't want to be here 😂

[@marybenson9418]

Best episode yet! I love this series, it's fresh and really scientifically sound.

[@louisalowry6229]

And now we are facing the invasion of the shot hole borer here in Perth, trees both native and nonnative being destroyed 😢

[@IanGrams]

Another excellent episode. I knew about the cane toad problem in Australia but hadn't realized they were such a widespread problem in Florida too. I had never heard about iNaturalist before either so I'm glad Dr. Pettorelli mentioned it. Love me some citizen science.

[@inappropriatejohnson]

As we humans build space habitats and colonize the solar system and beyond over the next few thousand years, some advice: be very careful which organisms we bring, and keep Florida people and Rat Fanciers OUT of the decision making process.

[@huldu]

There will never be anything we do that will be "right", it only takes one single person to create a disaster. I'm not just talking about animals and potential colonies, we'll bring pest with us there is no question about it, only a matter of time. You can't blame other animals for being like us ie survivors to the extreme. We're the #1 invasive species no matter where we go.

[@tarjei99]

Create super mating sounds that collect toads in a wide area. Let them come instead of going out looking for them.

[@kassiemeiler3637]

Such an informative video! Thank you for shedding light on this.

[@billdrummer7707]

I didn't start out today being interested in invasive toads, but you made them fascinating! Good job!

[@NGC-catseye]

The only good thing about cane toads in Australia, is that they allowed Aussies to become great cricketers 🏏 and golfers 🏌️‍♀️

[@dozermc5220]

Yes, I'd already taken out thousands of toads with a golf club by the time I took my first swing at a golf ball.

[@rayrocher6887]

Thanks Robert, thanks fighting environment dystopian

[@rayrocher6887]

Thanks Dr pettorelli, good work in Oxford

[@DominikJaniec]

great episode! thank you :)

[@Pottery4Life]

Thank you.

[@jessicacrain9]

WHERE CAN I GET THAT MUG!!!!! it looks so cool! i just found this by chance. very love the information that is given

[@ariw9405]

I have such an irrational fear of frogs & toads.

[@claireseaton3659]

This is NUTS! So thankful for the work Toad Busters does in Florida, holy cow! I bet y'all have saved countless pets 🙏

[@huldu]

To be fair we humans top that invasive species list by a large margin. I doubt anything really comes close to us and how destructive we are to everything around us including ourselves.

[@Cudddlefish]

Yeah, but we had to invent agriculture and stuff to do that. It takes a lot of smarts and hard work to screw things up as badly as us.

[@ryanreedgibson]

And to be fair, Florida is nothing like Australia or even the rest of the US. More S.O. than anywhere else in the world. The second worse is AR.

[@paurushbhatnagar8100]

You have said the truth. We are biggest invasive species. But about cane toads they are not Nature failure but rather we have made them available to places they never belong. Like we spread rats on the islands they never belong.

[@raclark2730]

Only in the past few centuries, and we have been here for 300 000 years. Less moaning and more change.

[@raclark2730]

@@Cudddlefish Yes well we need to fix that. I don't mind going back to hunter gatherer personally , but its not practical for everyone. So we need to modify agriculture as we know it.

[@joanfregapane8683]

Very interesting!

[@screwyu1329]

The natural enemy of the cane toad is the 9 iron. We have found here in Queensland that if you kill one, turn it on it's back and leave them outside. The crows have learnt to flip them and eat their guts without getting poisoned.

[@StarLightNow]

I keep saying it but I really love this series. Everything about it is fantastic.

[@darwinwins]

"cheesy creamy" squirting poison was not what i was expecting to see today. awesome.

[@inthebeam6231]

Love the colorful glasses!

[@cerarobert1989]

Girl, how did you even hold a frog? I'd be poisoned if I ever did that. That frog too was scared. 😂 So, glad to have you on the PBS channel. ❤😊.

[@S3lkie-Gutz]

it’s only poisonous if you try to ingest it, not venomous. you’re implying that you’d try to put it in your mouth or something(not saying you are that’s just what it sounds like)

[@ug7014]

A small part of me was hoping you would say it was a toadal failure at some point

[@ZetaR0yszawa]

Asian common toads: *Great, we have our long time rival*

[@AlexaSimeone-mh3qy]

Great insights! Learning of our FL over stayed guests 🐸

[@DiowE]

One thing which is not cleared in the video is the disposal method. What you do to these captured toads. Thank you for giving me an answer. P.S. - Please, don't think that if your answer is 'we terminate them', then i would go on giving you lecture on mercy or some other dumb virtue signalling. I just want an answer to my curiosity. [DiowE]

[@FusionDeveloper]

They can compost them as fertilizer. There are videos on it.

[@FusionDeveloper]

But they should just give them all to me because I love toads.

[@user-gw6ib8xw4d]

Crows here in Australia have learnt to flip the cane toad over onto its back and eats its stomach..

[@crazyquilt]

1:10 Smells Like Toad Spirit

[@brianmulholland2467]

It's a weird transition between speakers at 4 min. It's like suddenly - "Hi! I'm talking now!"

[@yellowflowerorangeflower5706]

Cool

[@wcdeich4]

Thanks for acknowledging 3 categories. 2 is oversimplified.

[@soad3838]

Maren's the best!!!

[@Liz-sc3np]

Palms just chilling

[@apemancommeth8087]

There should be a special month that everyone gets out and helps catch them! If humans caused this, we all should chip in and help fix it!

[@bufonivoracea]

@PBS Terra That is not a female cane toad. The shown toad “Martha” (0:39) has dark nuptial pads and is 100% a male.

[@Vlad_the_Impaler]

I liked the way Robert sneak himself in to the video. It looked like rap video in reverse.

[@mikepresto1]

Apparently my strong suit is watching fly fishing videos, then spending my weekend working on the house and cars.

[@coreysimmons4519]

Accurate shot fired: comparing Australia to Florida

[@katebentley2526]

She talked about uploading pictures and info in the "right app" to get the data to her and other scientists. Could you give us list of those "right apps"? Is iNaturalist one of them?

[@rockys7726]

As usual the one thing that is common about invasives spreading is due to human intervention. Even scientists are short sighted and do things without completely understanding the full impact of their actions.

[@mollyannejacobs]

Do they die from the poison if they eat each other?

[@hugog8551]

At 5:02, so according to this definition the worst invasive mammal seems to be the human species.

[@franceshorton918]

I wonder if the cane toads can be controlled by genetic engineering? It might seem an impossible task to attempt to eliminate millions of toads, but we humand DO have brains and opposable thumbs! I hope scientists in Australia are working on a 'sterility gene' right now. Surely, with a concerted effort from whole communities, we can try?

[@Chihirolee3]

My neighbor just cut down all his front yard trees due to Emerald Ash Borer. :/ My trees are maple and walnuts.

[@lemonblossom0]

2:41 yo where's the flash warning 😵‍💫

[@hackedbyBLAGH]

How are they dispatching those thousands of toads they catch

[@forest2797]

Please put a flashing lights warning on your videos if you are going to edit it in 😖

[@sten4982]

But Florida has Meth Gators, we only have Salty crocs and fresh water ones. Meth Gators sound cooler

[@rainy_cloud9115]

These toads LOVE cat food!

[@Dqtube]

So who will win in Florida - the toads or the pythons? Or is there another contestant who's not as famous ?

[@huldu]

They should take some notes from England in how to make wildlife go extinct. They used to have a lot of beavers in England, they made them go extinct(there are some projects around to bring them back). Also note that England has *no* large predators because they made them go extinct as well so if anything they know how to solve "problems" by removing them completely.

[@victoriaeads6126]

England is a much smaller territory, the animals you refer to were larger and bred less frequently, and , well, they aren't usually animals humans are inclined to hunt. Intentional strategies are necessary for creatures like cane toads, which can explosively breed, have few natural predators, if any, are nocturnal and sneaky, and hold little interest to humans beyond those who know about them and want to get rid of them.

[@raclark2730]

Bring back snake skin boots.

[@lenabreijer1311]

Climate change, it will end up under water.

[@MsAnubisia]

Don't forget lion fish and tilapia in the Florida waterways!

[@Joe-Przybranowski]

Poisonous? Or toxic?

[@bugloverspiderlover8490]

They are already in south Texas. Haven’t seen any up north yet,just the common American species.

[@WHOLESOMECOMICS]

They make shirts that go all the way down.

[@benzell4]

Calling all Citizen Naturalists to remote sense!

[@bobyoung1698]

Questions: Looking at those man-made ponds ... would it be possible to surround the smaller ones with temporary fences in order to trap the young toads after they leave the pond. It would take at least a decade, but could Burmese Pythons in the Florida Everglades be bred to "select" cane toads as prey? Maybe we could eliminate two problems at once.

[@bennettfender9927]

Cane Toads are far too small to be prey for a Burmese Python.

[@bobyoung1698]

@@bennettfender9927 Not the young ones.

[@bennettfender9927]

@@bobyoung1698 Gotcha.

[@mamanimepranknewbie]

One animal that isnt native from the land can have a potential to change or destroy

[@hunterhq295]

What is the natural predator of cane toads in their home habitat?

[@BlindSquirrel666]

Can you smoke them? I mean more than once.

[@jstvglass1]

Yay for iNaturalist!

[@ricardoxavier827]

The honey badger eats poison snakes... Australia needs a new invader...

[@Enemys0ng]

dangit martha

[@ordinary_motorist]

I know they're an accomplished scientist helping the world but I just can't trust someone with so many shortcuts and files on their desktop

[@LivingWithGout]

So cute. We are the ultimate invasive specie.

[@mildsoup8978]

Why can't delicious animals act like this...

[@agodawg]

There are a lot of tasty invasive species. I know many weeds that make great salad, lots of different berries and all of our livestock is usually non-native (and sometimes invasive too)

[@raclark2730]

Tilapia, Lion fish, goats , pigs. Dig in 🍽😎

[@TealCheetah]

The flashing at 2:41 is awful

[@GGoAwayy]

Wait... so WHAT does Toad Busters do with all those hundreds of toads they capture every night? Kill them all?

[@MZ99698]

Yes

[@stevenherrold5955]

successful failure i didn't know those 2 words could go in the same sentence sounds like i go forward by going backward i'm getting fat so that i can lose weight

[@troymansfield4987]

They killing the toads?

[@MZ99698]

Yes

[@Testuser582]

Brit striking again....

[@srwapo]

People brought toads because of farms people made and are living better because of ponds people made and love "the human environment", toads are obviously the problem

[@Izzy-qf1do]

Smoke bufo

[@KrytoRift]

Extremely toxic as she proceeds to handle it with bare hands

[@S3lkie-Gutz]

poisonous not venomous, don’t put it in your mouth and wash your hands after handling them

[@KrytoRift]

@@S3lkie-Gutz the poison is on the skin. A small cut or wound would allow the toxins to enter the bloodstream We have all had small wounds on our hands that we were aware of

[@letsomethingshine]

Name the specific people who are labeled “scientists” instead of “sugar plantation owners and goons”. Name them if there is evidence.

[@ryanreedgibson]

When you lick a toad, you lick every toad that toad has been with. - Family Guy

[@victoriaeads6126]

Robert's a great host!

[@Accentor100]

Video about Cane Toads. Frog recording used was that of Pacific Chorus Frogs.

[@briandoczahm]

At least it wasn’t a red-tailed Hawk call they use when they show ANY bird or prey, in ANY situation or location! Thanks for the data! I’d expect more from PBS.

[@Accentor100]

@@briandoczahm yes! That's another one that grinds my gear and I agree, I expect better from PBS.

[@theobserver9131]

Are these the guys that have DMT in their gland juice?

[@EmilyTienne]

Leave it to the humans. The planet would do just fine without us.

[@FusionDeveloper]

Best toad species on earth. Let toads take over the world. Hooray for toads!! (yeah I love Cane Toads, but they aren't in my area. No other toad species can compare to every single attribute they have at every stage of their life).

[@CAMacKenzie]

GROSS!!! What about radiotagging a 'toxic toad friendly' bait protien for dosing identified breeding poinds? Greed will assure readings above bacground level so that population movement can be mapped. A dose from a CO2 tank could quick-freeze the tadpoles or egg mass for removal or chemical neutering ( and it might also work for Burmese pythons ).

[@rayrocher6887]

Dr tilford thanks, sorry Florida busted

[@sadi2125]

Todal failure

[@skaldlouiscyphre2453]

Toads are great at controlling invasive dogs.

[@GGoAwayy]

Invasive dogs like your mom?

[@soledadariasaller754]

Martha is a male!

[@adamcarson2086]

When discussing invasive species, you forgot to mention humans...

[@jcook2433]

I wish you had kept it limited to the toad. If you bring other animals into it you need to mention all the groups who need help doing TNR and that particular population control relies on TNR as well as teaching people that the myths surrounding those animals are just that, myths. I know the particulars because that is my field. Bugs are more likely to be the diet than birds unless a bird is sick or injured which means that bird is weak and not strong breeding material. Mice, rats, squirrels are also more likely to be eaten. Dumping pets and human error is the root cause and solutions are not well supported. A myth that ferals after the kitten age cannot be socialized is also untrue. Granted it takes understanding but not that difficult beyond patience and knowledge. Solutions are out there but please stop making one creature a scapegoat in Florida. We lose volunteers upon comments like the “expert opinion ” here. Yes, invasive but not killing much in the way of birds. Reptiles? In some cases but not much as a food source in Florida. Very disappointed here. I am a bird lover, reptile lover, amphibian lover and plant lover. All around nature and conservation, preservation person. 😢 People tend to stop helping when an animal is painted with such a broad brush. Rescue groups have it hard enough. Clarify please. Feeding stations, TNR. Human contributions to problems made clear with the toad…. Please continue on that path. Also the loss of birds to human pollution is what seems to be really the biggest problem with total loss of habitat. Improve habitat and birds, reptiles etc. make a comeback. Hard to survive if you can’t even find drinking water.

[@huldu]

People love to do things as long they don't have to pay the price in any way. You see random people complain about pollution, child labor and so on and then they sit and fiddle with their expensive phones which has parts in it that were created using very questionable means in countries that do not follow the ways of the west world. The second you start to remove something people want/use the outcry start and then they fall back into the old ways again and people simply forget. Media has a few weeks of attention span then everyone moves on to the next thing. Our society is flawed, corrupted and rotten from the rot. It will take some drastic measures to turn our world around but it will happen eventually, mark my words and it will not be pretty. I'm not talking about climate change or anything like that but us people, look at our past, that's who we are and will always be.

[@DisasterAstor]

There may be a huge gap between your expertise and what PBS has done here, but there's also appears to be a disconnect between science communicators and the some of the scientists performing the science. All of that information in your commment was great but it was also dense and difficult to read, especially in the forum it was entered into. Writing for an audience (the public, eductors, and students are all different audiences) is a difficult skill. If your comment was to display your own knowledge then cool! Thanks for the knowledge! But if you really want to make these kinds of things better than they are, as an expert in something, I'm sure you're aware that a chastising KZbin comment didn't really make a difference.

[@lenabreijer1311]

All in 15 minutes and understandable by the average American?

[@freejutube]

commentator: 'invasive species... an example of this is the cat" cats: "you should say that the biggest example of that is the human... a species also specialised in accusing and killing others for committing the very sins that they themselves commit" 😞