'Rare' five-legged creature spotted in Queensland
The Queensland man was enjoying his evening when he came across the rare toad.
A Queensland man was just sitting outside his home when he came across what experts are calling a "rare" discovery.
As the ordinary-looking toad bounced towards him, Michael Messenger realised there was something off — the toad had a fifth tail-like leg dragging behind, which it wasn't using.
"The first time I saw it I said what the f**k? It's really freaky, it really is," the Ipswich local told 9 News.
Mr Messenger told ABC he tried to catch the toad "about the size of a hand," and euthanise it, but it was too quick for him.
'Accident' could've led toad to have five legs
Macquarie University Professor in Natural Sciences, Rick Shine, said out of the "thousands of toads" he's handled for research, there were around two or three with five legs.
"I have seen toads with five legs before. It's very rare," he told ABC.
But what can cause the strange addition? Professor Shine narrows it down to the toad becoming injured while it's a tadpole.
"Other animals have babies in utero or in eggs so they're protected, but tadpoles aren't. The tadpole is swimming around in the open and usually one parasite attacks the tadpole and injures the limb bud," he said to the publication.
"The limb bud could get split into two and end up producing two legs. It's something that happens with frogs more often."
Social media users react to five-legged discovery
The bizarre toad defect generated a lot of interest and had people labelling the creature as a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Cane Toad".
"Nothing unusual for Ipswich," another person commented on the Today's Show Facebook post.
"It's been swimming in The Simpson's pond with the 3 eyed fish," a third person joked.
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Many, like Mr Messenger who found the toad, thought the extra leg looked like a tail.
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