Wildlife: A Giant Toad Is Seen At Night In The Northern Jungles Of Guatemala Royalty-Free Stock Photo

The cane toad Rhinella Horribilis, also known as the giant neotropical toad or marine toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad native to South and Central America, but which has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania and the Caribbean, as well as Northern Austra. It is the world`s largest toad. It is a member of the genus Rhinella, which includes many toad species found throughout Central and South America. The cane toad is a prolific breeder; females lay single-clump spawns with thousands of eggs. Its reproductive success is part because of opportunistic feeding: it has a diet, unusual among anurans, of both dead and living matter. Is an old species. A fossil toad specimen UCMP 41159 from the La Venta fauna of the late Miocene of Colombia is indistinguishable from modern cane toads from South America. It was discovered in a floodplain deposit, which suggests the habitat preferences have long been for open areas. The cane toad has poison glands, and the tadpoles are high toxic to most animals if ingested. Its toxic skin can kill animals, both wild and domesticated, and is particular dangerous to dogs. Because of its voracious appetite, it has been introduced to many regions of the Pacific and the Caribbean islands as a method of agricultural pest control. The species derives its common name from its use against the cane beetle Dermolepida albohirtum. Now is considered a pest and an invasive species in many of its introduced regions.