The cane toad, originally from South America, was introduced by the sugar industry in 1935 in an attempt to control two sugarcane pests, the Grey Backed cane beetle and the Frenchie beetle, however the toad does not generally eat these particular insects, but has instead successfully devoured other native insects and micro-fauna to the point of extinction (Young 2000). It was also discovered sometime later, that the cane toads cannot jump very high, thus they could not eat the cane beetles which thrive on the upper stalks of the cane plants (Unwanted 2005). Moreover, the poisonous toad instantly kills any predator that attempts to eat it, particularly the quoll, Australia's marsupial cat, and giant native lizards, all the while its own

There have also been reports that some Queensland bird and rodent species have learned to actually eat cane toads by killing the toad and turning it onto its back, then pulling away the soft belly skin to eat the internal organs, therefore leaving the skin and the deadly paratoid glands untouched (Unwanted 2005). On the evolutionary scale, this behavior was learned quite quickly, a mere sixty years (Unwanted 2005). Moreover, native rats that do feed on animal material, such as the White-tailed and the False Water, have learned to eat only the legs of the toad and not the body (Unwanted 2005). In addition, there is also a report that an Australian snake species, the Keelback or Freshwater snake (Tropidonophis mairi) is immune to the toad's toxin, however there is much debate and controversy over this, yet there are reports of other Australian snakes that may be immune and research is in progress in the Northern Territory under the supervision of Dr. Rick Shine of Sydney University (Unwanted 2005). And finally, another report has emerged that there is a beetle species, Lavender Beetles, in the Northern Territory which the frogs ignore but the cane toads relish, and when eaten, they die (Unwanted 2004).

The toad's venom is produced by the parotoid glands that act principally on the heart, and while no humans have died in Australia from cane toad poison, people have died overseas after eating toads and even soup made from boiled toad eggs (Cane 2003).

Cane toads are spreading at a rate of 27 km a year, and are now the most common small vertebrate in eastern Queensland and have even been found in the Kakadu National Park, a World Heritage listed site (Gene 2004). In 2001, CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) scientists at the Division of Sustainable Ecosystems in Canberra and at the Livestock Industries Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong, began investigating the use of gene technology in an effort to stop the spread of the cane toads (Gene 2004). Scientists in Canberra are trying to identify a gene in the toads that when turned off, will stop the tadpole from metamorphosing and reaching the reproductive stage, however the gene must be specific to the cane toads so not to affect native animal species (Gene 2004). In addition to routine molecular biology methods, a new technology known as microarrays is being employed as a tool to locate the key gene, which has resulted in the team's development of the world's first cane toad microarry, an array of 2,000 cane toad genes on a small glass slide that amounts to a "biological equivalent of a microchip" (Gene 2004).

Nicole Siddon at Canberra explains that the toads live in a home that is heated to 27 degrees, and receive a weekly bath, after which they are left alone for an hour or so to give them time to shed the old skin (Siddon 2004). The cane toads are then injected with hormones to encourage reproduction, and by the next morning there are thousands of eggs "wrapped in nice concentric circles around the rock" in each tank, at which point they are transferred to a smaller tank to allow the tadpoles to start forming (Siddon 2004).

One study has found that cane toads have caused a significant reduction in the abundance of small lizards, most likely by reducing their invertebrate food supply, and another study on ground-nesting rainbow bee-eaters, found that cane toads were one of the most significant sources of mortality for bee-eater chicks (Biological 2005). The toads destroyed 33 percent of all nest attempts by either blocking the nest entrance or by eating the fledglings and eggs (Biological 2005). When the toads were removed from the nests and placed away from the sites, 75 percent returned to the same burrow overnight or within 2-3 nights, thus if cane toads have a memory and use olfactory cues to locate prey, there could be implications for peak breeding times in a number of ground nesting or denning animals (B

Some common words found in the essay are:
Quoll Cane, Northern Quoll, South America, Northern Territory, America Lunter, Marbled Frog, Siddon We're, Chill Toad, White-tailed Rat, University Queensland, cane toads, cane toad, lunter 2004, biological 2005, cane 2003, native species, unwanted 2005, northern territory, siddon 2004, gene 2004, 2005 cane toad, impact cane toads, biological 2005 study, cane toads native, toads biological 2005,
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