jack@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin) (10/14/89)
andrewt@cluster.cs.su.oz (Andrew Taylor) wrote: > Cane toad were introduced to Australia (not to mention Hawaii and Fiji) > to control insect pests in sugar cane, which they haven't. They are > steadily spreading through Australia from Queensland, the site of their > introduction. Native predators can't control them because they secrete a > potent poison. I haven't heard of any candidate for a biological control. There is a terrific documentary about these beasties, called just "Cane Toads". It must be the funniest documentary I've ever seen. It's not just about the toads, it's about the variety of ways Australians have reacted to them - children playing with them like dolls, local businessmen trying to turn them into a tourist attraction, manic drivers trying to squash them, hippies boiling them down into hallucinogenic soup, and, my favourite, an old and wrinkled couple, looking like half-transformed were-toads, who really loved listening to them mate on their lawn and describe it with childlike rapture. Look out for it. -- Jack Campin * Computing Science Department, Glasgow University, 17 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow G12 8QQ, SCOTLAND. 041 339 8855 x6045 wk 041 556 1878 ho INTERNET: jack%cs.glasgow.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk USENET: jack@glasgow.uucp JANET: jack@uk.ac.glasgow.cs PLINGnet: ...mcvax!ukc!cs.glasgow.ac.uk!jack