KOOKABURRA
KILLER?
The cane toad has poison glands situated on its shoulders. When a predator
tries to swallow a cane toad, the glands ooze a potent toxin. The predator's
heart begins to race - it begins to drool uncontrollably - it finds
it hard to breathe - rather like a Ricky Martin concert. Both domestic
and native animals can die in as little as 15 minutes. Wildlife experts
increasingly find kookaburras, a native frog-eating bird, dead in the
wild with cane toads still lodged in their gullets. Is it a threat to
man? "I wouldn't eat one headfirst," an authority cautions.