Which pest animal is officially called bufo marinus?

Answer 1

The pest animal officially called bufo marinus as its scientific name is commonly known as Giant Toad a.k.a. Marine Toad, Giant Marine Toad, Neotropical Toad, Bufo Toad, Cane Toad, and Sapo gigante. Its Spanish Common Names are Sapo Común, and Sapo Grande. Other Common Names: Sapo Cururu ; Other Related Names: Bombinator horridus ;Bufo agua ;Bufo brasiliensis ;Bufo horridus ;Bufo humeralis ;Rana gigas ;and Rana marina.

It is classified as follows:
>>Kingdom Animalia
>>Phylum or Division: Chordata / Craniata
>>Class: Amphibia or Sarcopterygii
>>Order: Anura or Salientia
>>Family: Bufonidae
>>Genus: Bufo

Adult B. marinus have a short, squat body with short legs with shades of brown, varying from yellow, red, to olive-green, sometimes with spots of white across the back, sides and legs. Their undersides are yellow with black flecks. Their skin is dry, often with rows of warts on areas. They are the largest toads, varying from 4-9 inches in length. The females are markedly larger than the males, while the males have more prominent rows of warts.

When a toad is attacked, its defense is exuding a milky fluid, ("bufotoxin"), from these warts, which act as an irritant to the mucous membranes of the attacker. There are 2 concentrations of the poisonous parotid glands behind each eye. This secretion will burn eyes, may inflame the skin, and can kill cats and dogs if they ingest it. The poison does not protect the toad against all predators, for most snakes and birds seem to be unaffected and humans tend to only get skin irritation, but it is fatal to small animals as well as many domestic cats and dogs. It has been alllegedly reported that humans have died from eating B. marinus and/or its eggs.

B. marinus naturally occurs from the Amazon basin in South America, through Central America to extreme southern Texas along the Rio Grande River. They have been introduced by humans across the Caribbean, and specifically in Puerto Rico, Haiti, Hawaii, and Florida, as well as the Philipines and Australia to control sugar cane pests.

It has posed the most threat in Australia since the toads from Hawaii were introduced to control scarab beetles that were pests in the sugar cane plantations of North Queensland in July 1935.

B. marinus eat almost anything they can swallow. Because of their voracious appetite, B. marinus can reduce the number of insects in a place where infestation is a problem. Though everything adds up to the conclusion that B. marinus could outcompete native fauna, this has yet to be established. It is suspected that there is a reasonable correlation between the reduction of some frog/skink populations and the invasion of B. marinus in Australia, and the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) have labeled them a "pest." The main purpose of introduction of these toads of controlling the beetles had little or no effect due to main reason that their wide-ranging diet means is not solely dependent on beetles for food.

Much cause for concern in Australia with B. marinus are due to the following factors:
>>poison pets and injure humans with their toxins
>>poison many native animals whose diet includes frogs, tadpoles and frogs’ eggs
>>eat large numbers of honey bees, creating a management problem for bee-keepers
>>prey on native fauna
>>compete for food with vertebrate insectivores such as small skinks
>>may carry diseases that are can be transmitted to native frogs and fishes.

These toads are labeled as ecological threat and measures and technologies are being observed and investigated towards their biological control.

Females produce 8,000 to 50,000 eggs in a clutch and can breed at least twice a year. Tadpoles hatch in 48 to 72 hours and they can complete their development in 16 to 180 days.Giant They have a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years in the wild, and as long as 20 years in captivity and can breed for at least five years in the wild.

"Prinsen", a specimen kept as a pet in Sweden, is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest recorded specimen, which weighed 2.65 kilograms (5.84 lb) and measured 38 centimetres (15 in) from snout to vent, or 54 centimetres (21 in) when fully extended.☺

(This toad is usually used as an animal specimen for experiment and dissection. As far as I can remember , I dissected more than 5 of it during my college days and we call it Hawaiian Frog. Huh, cruel Lani S! Isn;t it?)

Answer 2

Bufo marinus, Cane Toad, Giant Neotropical Toad.

As far as ‘pest animal’ goes: that sounds so much as if the animal were guilty.
Of course it is now a threat and danger to the original habitat, but whose fault is it?

What if we blamed the ones who caused this problem: the pest homo sapiens?

Answer 3

Large toads that are found in south Florida and in some other subtropical locations, they have poison glands on their back, that is released when bitten by a dog or any other animal.It is a defense mechanism for the toad.the poison is very bitter tasting,causing the animal that tried to eat it tospit it out.If the toad is swollowed it can cause death in many cases.

Answer 4

The Cane Toad (Bufo marinus), also known as the Giant Neotropical Toad or Marine Toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad native to Central and South America. It is a member of the genus Bufo, which includes hundreds of different true toad species in different habitats throughout the world. The Cane Toad is a prolific breeder; females lay single-clump spawns with large numbers of eggs. Its reproductive success is partly due to opportunistic feeding: it has a diet, unusual among Anurans, of both dead and living matter. Adults average 10 to 15 centimetres (4–6 in) in length; the largest recorded specimen weighed 2.65 kilograms (5.84 lb) and measured 38 centimetres (15 in) from snout to vent.

The Cane Toad has large poison glands, and adults and tadpoles are highly toxic to most animals if ingested. Because of its voracious appetite, the Cane Toad has been introduced to many regions of the Pacific and the Caribbean islands as a method of agricultural pest control, notably in the case of Australia in 1935, and derives its common name from its use against sugar cane pests. The Cane Toad itself is now considered a pest in many of its introduced regions, as its toxic skin kills many native predators when ingested.

The Cane Toad is native to the Americas, from the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas to central Amazon and south-eastern Peru. This range includes both tropical and semi-arid environments. The density of the Cane Toad within its native distribution is significantly lower than that of its introduced distribution. In South America, it is recorded at densities of 20 adults per 100 metres of shoreline, but in Australia the density reaches 1000-2000 adults over the same area.

In attempts to control the native Cane Beetle, 102 Cane Toads were introduced to Australia from Hawaii in June 1935. They bred immediately in captivity and by August 1935 more than 3000 young toads were released in areas around Cairns, Gordonvale and Innisfail in northern Queensland. More Toads were released around Ingham, Ayr, Mackay and Bundaberg. Releases were temporarily limited due to environmental concerns, but resumed in other areas after September 1936. Since their release, toads have rapidly multiplied in population and now number over 100 million. The population is increasing at a rate of about 25% a year. The toads have steadily expanded their range through Queensland, reaching the border with New South Wales in 1978 and the Northern Territory in 1984. The toads on the western frontier of their advance have evolved larger legs; this is thought to be related to their ability to travel farther. It is estimated that Cane Toads migrate at an average of 40 kilometres (25 mi) a year.

The introduction and migration of the Cane Toad in Australia was popularised by the film Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (1988), which tells the tale with a humorous edge and is often shown in Environmental Science courses. Don Spencer, a popular children's entertainer, sang the song Warts 'n' All, which was used in the documentary. The documentary was referred to in the Simpsons episode "Bart vs. Australia."

It is estimated there could be as many as a hundred million cane toads; officials in Western Australia have asked for the army's help to exterminate them. A 15km (10-mile) fence was constructed around Gurig National Park in an attempt to try and block the toads' advance on it in 2001. Wildlife experts say there is no chance of halting the invasion of Australia's world-famous Kakadu National Park, because the remoteness of the park's extensive rivers and swamps are too difficult to defend. A recent study in Kakadu National Park found that the Northern Quoll (a medium-sized carnivorous marsupial listed as a threatened species) had disappeared from sites where cane toads had recently arrived.

Government advice on how to tackle the problem has been quite brutal:

People should beat them to death with a golf club or a cricket bat.
This, of course, has outraged animal welfare group representatives who suggest a 'kinder' way of disposal is to place them in a freezer until they die. People should wear rubber gloves3 while handling the toads and then put them in plastic bags, before putting them in the freezer. Although nothing is stated about what to do with them afterwards, it goes without saying that they shouldn't be ingested by humans, even accidentally, so burying them would be a good idea.

Answer 5

Cane Toad. A real pest in many counrries.