The mystery of ''The Exploding Toads''

[Homi]

This doesnt make much sense.....


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4486247.stm

[Xiaodun]

It finally happened. Thank you fron, its not enough that you make frogs grow extra feet, you have to blow them up too.

[Portuguese Rebel]

Probably some serious contaminant in that pond... Poor animals...

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Poor animals.
Maybe they are Usama's new weapon.

[SirLoinalot]

Well at least it's not happening to a good animal. Toads are quite pointless really.

Look on the bright side at least fido the family dog isn't going to run out into the garden frollicking in the grass and trying to catch butterflies, then suddenly explode taking out half the kitchen and the back fence in one tremendous explosion.

[Sidus Preclarum]

Originally posted by Portuguese Rebel@Apr 28 2005, 05:45 AM
Probably some serious contaminant in that pond... Poor animals...

yeah .. A guy I met at work told me that when he went hunting once, he'd keep finding those dead birds which throats had exploded after having eaten some chemical stuff :erm

[Ardeur]

Look on the bright side at least fido the family dog isn't going to run out into the garden frollicking in the grass and trying to catch butterflies, then suddenly explode taking out half the kitchen and the back fence in one tremendous explosion.

Why does this sound like you're talking from experience?

Any pent up Puppy-splosions in your childhood, Lord Loinalot? :grin

[SirLoinalot]

sniff sniff poor Fido. I can still remember picking his tail out of the tree.

Oh, and making birds explode is easy just feed them baking soda and boom...makes thier stomache's swell or something.

[Somebody Else]

Originally posted by SirLoinalot@Apr 28 2005, 07:25 AM
Oh, and making birds explode is easy just feed them baking soda and boom...makes thier stomache's swell or something.

Birds can't burp. Baking soda gives them gas. Birds aren't designed to be pressurised containers...

[Prince Laridus Konivaich]

Originally posted by SirLoinalot@Apr 28 2005, 02:25 PM
sniff sniff poor Fido. I can still remember picking his tail out of the tree.

Oh, and making birds explode is easy just feed them baking soda and boom...makes thier stomache's swell or something.

Thanks, I was always wondering how to make a bird explode! Would it work better if you got them to drink some vinegar too?

[Lord Rahl]

Exploding toads. Never encountered one yet. All they do is pee on you if you pick them up. I may have an idea on why they explode however. Perhaps they got zapped with radiation like on Hulk?

[PacSubCom]

Mystery solved:


According to Spiegel Online (German online version of THE german weekly news magazine), crows are responsible. Here's how: These nasty birds (gotta love em) like to eat the livers of the toads. This obviously punctures the toads, which, when in danger, inflate their lungs (and therefore their bodies) with air (normal reaction). Since the body is punctured, the inflating lungs find no resistance anymore and rupture. BANG! This presses their innards out of the hole. Yuck!

Because crows are rather smart birds, they soon learned and found out how to efficiently get to the tasty livers. They then engaged in wholesale puncturing of toad populations.

No virus or illness was found.

I might add that Denmark, where the toads are also exploding, is quite a way from Hamburg, where the first toads met their grisly fate, To the border alone it must be 150 km or about 100 miles. To Laasby probably much farther. It must be months as the toad crawls. But on the other hand probably a day as the crow flies... :grin

[Portuguese Rebel]

Ah! Survival of the fittest... Better this way than by some chemical spill or something like that.

[Ardeur]

It must be months as the toad crawls. But on the other hand probably a day as the crow flies...

:lol :w00t :happy :grin

That's hilarious.

I'd read they tried all sorts of theories, ranging from infected insects to Brazillian fungus. I guess its kind of funny that they didn't pay attention to the flock of crows hanging around the exploding toads.