A Good
Book.
University of
California
Press
ISBN 978-0-
520-29510-0
RRP $49.99
Hardback,
288pp
Format: 229 x
152mm.
T
‘Team Bufo’ was assembled to devote itself to the study of
Cane Toads, along with their impact on the ecosystem.
Suffice to say that events were to make a mockery of all the
predictions. The early arrival of the toads is chronicled,
followed by the results of fifteen years of diverse research
projects. Some of the conclusions are, to use one of Rick’s
terms, ‘gobsmacking’. For example the accelerated march of
Cane Toads across the continent was found to be due to rapid
evolution amongst those in the vanguard – producing single-
minded amphibians with longer legs, hell-bent upon expand-
ing their dominion. The team had discovered a whole new
mechanism of evolution – ‘spatial sorting’.
‘If your car won’t start in the morning,
it’s because a Cane Toad has crawled up the
exhaust pipe.
Your school-age children will abandon their
studies to smoke dried toad skins.’
his publication is extremely rare amongst books that are
based upon science and research. It reads more like a top
science/mystery novel – something of which Michael
Crichton would be proud. In short, I couldn’t put it down,
and the only volume I can compare it to is Cannibals, Cows
& the CJD Catastrophe, by Jennifer Cooke, which won the
Rick also explores the demonization of Cane Toads in the
Eureka Science Book Prize. This should win one too.
wider community (‘Cane Toads are a lightning rod for public
passions about conservation’) and the rise of community
The difference is that while Cooke is a fine investigative
‘toad-busting’ groups, some of which were much better
journalist, Rick Shine lived the better part of this incredible
resourced from the public purse than the researchers (despite
story. And while the extraordinary subject matter is guaran- the futility of their activities), and cared little for evidence-
teed to demand your undivided attention, it is delivered in an based science. Thrust into the spotlight, Rick is also forced to
engaging, conversational style - unusual amongst academics contend with media spin-doctoring and political point-
- laced with wry humour and amusing anecdotes and facts.
scoring (one NT politician is described as having risen to
power ‘on the back of a toad’).
‘Cane Toads belong to a pioneering group of
amphibians whose transcontinental invasions
make Genghis Khan and his Mongol horde look
like introverted homebodies.’
The book begins with an examination of the circumstances
under which the Cane Toad was brought to Australia in
1935, and the folly of the logic involved. Although native to
the Amazon Basin, the Cane Toad is identified as possessing
a number of attributes which make it a highly successful
invasive species – not least of which is that it is equipped
with powerful toxins that can quickly kill predators, includ-
ing human beings. Rick remembers the time that a friend
mailed him a sun-dried toad ‘pancake’ with merely an
address label attached. Upon rehydration, the milky poison
oozed out of its shoulder glands, as potent as ever.
It was the impending arrival of Cane Toads at Rick’s
research site at Fogg Dam, outside Darwin, that brought the
realisation that, with extensive baseline data on native
species dating back to the 1980s, this presented a unique
opportunity to study the impact of the advancing toads.
Accordingly, with the toads just a one hour drive away,
The latter part of the book introduces a suite of novel
control methods that have been successfully trialled by
Rick’s team. These include turning the toad’s pheromones
upon itself, ‘genetic back-burning’, teaching predators to
avoid the toxic amphibians and simply reorganising suitable
‘The mayor of Darwin was reported to have shot
22,000 Cane Toads with a laser-sighted rifle.’
ponds to make them less appealing to the toads.
Although undisputedly an ecological disaster in this country,
Cane Toads have proved to be an amazing and complex
research subject, and Rick Shine openly admits that the
species has earned his admiration. As one of his colleagues
remarked, ‘They are the gift that just keeps on giving.’
This is a gripping narrative, recounted by a scientist with a
natural flair for story-telling. Quite simply, GET IT!
Reviewed by John McGrath.
Image
Image by
by Michael
Michael Cermak.
Cermak.