In Australia, reed frogs, cat food and carnivorous ants

Cane toads in Australia and cat food - it seems, one with the other is not connected. Indeed, does ordinary cat food have anything to do with the reproduction of deadly amphibians that threaten biological diversity on the whole continent?

However, this is so. In Australia - reed toads. Food for cats can be a way out.

Combating a common problem

An interesting and unusual country-continent suffers from a very original trouble. One of the biggest problems in Australia is the reed toads. Food for cats can solve it. Australian scientists have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to reduce the population of amphibians that have a negative impact on the fauna of the whole continent, and the method found, which seems very nontrivial, actually activates a conventional natural mechanism. No living being, even an extremely poisonous one, is completely safe - he always has an enemy. In this case, this is not food for cats.

Cane toads in Australia - a serious threat to predatory animals, in particular, for representatives of rare endangered species. These amphibians produce a deadly toxin, which, after getting into the body of a predator, decided to eat a toad, destroys it. Thus, under the threat of extinction, Jamaican boas are already at the moment, which, unfortunately, for a century and a half have not been accustomed to ignoring poisonous victims, and many other representatives of the fauna of the Caribbean.

The Curse of Australia

As for Australia, the poisonous toads imported there in the first half of the 20th century have long threatened to destroy many representatives of the animal kingdom of this continent. But in recent years the situation has become critical, and scientists have sounded the alarm.

In Australia reed amphibians reproduce freely and quickly. Growing enough to independently go out into the big world, young animals are selected to shore from the reservoir, where the adult female has laid eggs. After a while, small toads grow in fairly large amphibians, but in the initial stages their size is small: about one centimeter in length. Frogs take time to gain strength.

However, it is very easy for them to prevent the colony of meat ants, which turned out to be ashore at that time.

Meat ants - enemies of toads

Meat ants have powerful jaws, a relatively large body and a rather aggressive character. Poison poison does not do them any harm, and small frogs do not have the ability to protect themselves from gluttonous insects, which, acting by a group, are able to cope even with a large animal. The young are absolutely powerless before the invasion of hungry ants.

This conclusion was reached by researchers at the University of Sinde, discovering that the natural enemies of amphibians can draw a cat's fodder to the reservoir. Ants were excellent assistants in the fight against a population of poisonous cane toads in Australia. If you leave near a pond from which small toads are selected (and their population is large - one adult toad lays about thirty thousand eggs), at least a few spoons of cat food, in a few hours the beach is flooded with carnivorous insects in search of food. And they find it.

A successful test of theory

In 2008, a simple experiment was conducted. With the help of a small amount of cat food, which attracted ants, it was possible to destroy almost all the young (the bill went to tens of thousands) in no more than a few minutes. Some cubs managed to escape, but their wounds were so severe that 80% of the survivors died of damage after some time. The results are really impressive. It's hard to believe, but in Australia reed toads (cat food contributes to this) are already gradually dying out.

Other ways of fighting

As already noted above, the researchers have been looking for ways to deal with poisonous amphibians for decades. For example, environmentalists have tested the option of killing toads and their subsequent freezing. This was in some way convenient, since then useful and already non-toxic fertilizers were made from amphibians, however, this did not solve the problem: the frogs multiplied at the same speed, and the predators that swallowed the poison frog still died.

How to cope with the problem?

To date, it has been decided that cat food will be used to fight poisonous toads in Australia. This will negatively affect the populations of this species of amphibians, but it is beneficial - on the Australian fauna in general. The Australian Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals protested this decision, finding it extremely inhumane for amphibians. According to members of this society, you need to find a way out, in which toads will die painlessly. However, at the moment - it is hardly possible.

It remains only to hope that the problem with amphibians does not develop into a problem with meat ants. It is known that in Australia reed toads (cat food is now the only way to escape them) were originally used to cope with beetles that destroy sugar cane.