Thursday, July 20, 2006

Road Runners

LiveScience has an interesting article about cane toads (Bufo marinus) adapting to life with humans in Australia. The article features a discussion of research, to be presented in an upcoming issue of the journal Biological Conservation, demonstrating that cane toads actively use roads and fencelines to travel. The toads prefer the cleared areas to the more natural ones where vegetation would just get in their way. The article ends with an interesting supposition: Why not let roadsides grow dense with vegetation, forcing more toads directly on the road and into the path of passing vehicles?

Bonus points to LiveScience for printing the scientific name of the toad (The ISW is giving out a lot of bonus points lately - could this be a smart new trend?)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow how on earth did your blog get so pretty? It looks so peaceful. Love it!

Mrs Source said...

html = magic

good work

El Mostro said...

The cane toads (Bufo marinus) has adapted to life with humans in Argentina, too.
Saludos desde Buenos Aires.

Snail said...

The proliferation of garden ponds doesn't help the problem either. Ornamental ponds allow cane toads to breed in areas where they might otherwise be limited.