Farewell Toadzilla, we hardly knew ye
An enormous, six-pound cane toad was discovered (and euthanized) in Australia
Normally, the discovery of a far-too-big animal brings us nothing but joy. We’re filled with awe and reverence when reading about the exploits—or looking at photos—of Jonathan, the 190-year-old bisexual giant tortoise, Hong Kong’s mighty, garbage-eating pig, or the trio of enormous black bears that led to the legend of Hank The Tank.
In the case of Toadzilla, however, we feel only sadness. This is because the discovery of what may have been the world’s biggest toad was followed shortly thereafter by its death.
The creature’s untimely demise came after Toadzilla was spotted by rangers working in North Queensland, Australia’s Conway National Park. Sky News writes that the female cane toad weighed 2.7 kilograms (just under six pounds), was about 255 millimeters (0.8-feet) long, and was described by one ranger as looking “almost like a football with legs.”
The rangers believe that Toadzilla, as they dubbed their find, may be the biggest toad ever discovered, beating out the 1991 Guinness World Record set by a Swedish pet toad that weighed 2.65 kilograms.
Sadly, Toadzilla’s official measurements won’t be confirmed until her body is examined by the Queensland Museum. Though the giant beast deserved to be worshiped as a powerful swamp god, cane toads are an invasive species in Australia that, as a Queensland Parks And Wildlife Services spokesperson explains in an Inside Edition segment about Toadzilla, have an enormous, negative impact on their environment. Had Toadzilla survived, she may have laid “35,000 eggs,” bringing a whole army of cane toads into an ecosystem not meant to support them.
Still, dead or not, Toadzilla will always have a place in our hearts. She is quite simply the biggest, unsettlingly hefty toad we’ve ever witnessed, and that will assure her a place in history forevermore.
[via Boing Boing]
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