The real reason why these cane toads latched onto this snake
When a torrential storm flushed out the home of thousands of cane toads at a dam in Western Australia’s north, the frogs were forced to hop to higher, drier land.
Yet for an inventive few, their evacuation was made far simpler thanks to a passing 3.5-metre python at the estate in the remote town of Kununurra.
A remarkable image shared to Twitter on Sunday by Andrew Mock shows 10 cane toads riding on the back of the snake as they evaded flood waters.
“68mm just fell in the last hour at Kununurra. Flushed all the cane toads out of my brothers dam,” Mr Mock explained.
“Some of them took the easy way out – hitching a ride on the back of a 3.5m python.”
While the frogs managed to escape the dam with very little effort, Australian Museum and University of NSW amphibian expert Dr Jodi Rowley revealed the cane toads had an ulterior motive.
“They’re all male Cane Toads attempting to mate with the python! Male Cane Toads are often a little too keen,” she wrote in reply to the image.
She went on to share an image of a cane toad she encountered trying to mate with a rotting mango.
Dr Rowley told Yahoo News that wet weather can cause such behaviour yet the toads on the python was a first in her illustrious career.
“I’ve certainly never seen anything like it before,” she said.
“Males of some frogs (and toads) get a little “over-keen” after rain and will grab a lot of things that aren’t females of the same species- other species, males of the same species, rotten fruit, etc.”
Cane toads were introduced into Australia in the 1930s to help control destructive beetles in Queensland’s sugar cane crops but have since become a serious pest.
Waves of cane toads have since crossed the border into WA and other states, with WA’s Department of Parks and Wildlife desperately trying to halt their invasion.
Their presence has caused the deaths of several rare and vulnerable species across the country because of the deadly toxins they release.
Several conservation projects have been devised to help deter carnivores from eating the frogs, including one involving cane toad snags.
