BS: exploding toads in Germany

Subject: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Apr 05 - 11:25 PM

?

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Apr 05 - 11:54 PM

I thought Australia had a problem with frogs, not Germany a problem with toads. Our toads and frogs here in this part of Texas are in equilibrium--they're not exploding at all.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: John O'L
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 12:29 AM

Actually Australia has a huge problem with Cane Toads, introduced in Queensland in 1935 to kill beetles in the sugar cane, and now in plague numbers over pretty well the entire northern half of the country.

It is only the Cane Toad population exploding here. If the German toads are actually exploding there are many here who would like to know Germany's secret.

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 01:04 AM

Are you blowing sweet allisum up their annus?

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: John O'L
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 01:29 AM

Not me personally, no.

Is that the German way?

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 05:11 AM

blowing up a toad's bum.....!

pray sir, for pity's sake...... a little dignity.

I bet you wouldn't catch Pope Benedict blowing up a toad's bum. Or the late Queen Mother.

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 05:52 AM

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200504/s1352292.htm


According to reports from animal welfare workers and veterinarians as many as a thousand of the amphibians have perished after their bodies swelled to bursting point and their entrails were propelled for up to a metre.

It is like "a science fiction film", according to Werner Smolnik of a nature protection society in the northern city of Hamburg, where the phenomenon of the exploding toad has been observed.

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 07:35 AM

Where's Dave Barry when you need him. He's obviously the only scientist qualified to do the full story on this.

John

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: alanabit
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 12:18 PM

I wondered if this might be a story about toads falling foul of unexploded ordnance left around by unwanted visitors some sixty years ago. I shall have to ask my friends...

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 01:10 PM

Question 1) Are the toads themselves exploding?

Question 2) Are the toads exploding other creatures in Germany?

Question 3) Why just in Germany

and it's not bum, it's rectum.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: frogprince
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 01:12 PM

the toads go boom, the toads go boom, the toads go boom, the toads go boom (Repeat)
Same song, second verse, could be better but it' gonna get worse,
the toads go boom...

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 01:16 PM

And the tune would be 'the Long and Winding Toad'?

'Toad to nowhere'?

'Frog on the Tyne'?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 01:41 PM

Sounds like the effect of feeding seagulls (or pigeons) with bread treated with bi-carbonate of soda. Their bodies are not designed to expel the gas built up, and they end their days by exploding.


Or so I've been told!

Nigel


All the world seems in tune on a spring afternoon,
When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
Every Sunday you'll see my sweetheart and me,
As we poison the pigeons in the park.


Lehrer

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 01:43 PM

Or Bill Oddie's version....

Persecuting pigeons in Trafalgar Square!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 01:43 PM

And to follow Liz's example:

Keep right on to the end of the Toad:

Show me the way to go BOOM!"

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Amos
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 01:47 PM

Rectum? Hell, it completely ruins 'em!!!


A

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 01:49 PM

Thank you Amos... I knew there was someone out there who would take the bait!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: GUEST,Wotcha
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 02:25 PM

Well, in Germany they do post signs with frogs on them -- sort of a "Beware of Frogs" warning triangle. In our area around Stuttgart, the signs have given a name to a local short cut to one of our bases: "Frog Road."


Cheers/Tschuss/Ade,

Wotcha

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 02:29 PM

Of course, in London (within the sound of Bow Bells) "Frog Road" would be tautologous!

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 02:33 PM

For the Science Fiction / Fantasy / Parody lover there is, of cours a book about Rana Militaria

I leave you to check the link for the translation, and a terrible Shakespeare pun!

CHEERS

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 24 Apr 05 - 04:49 PM

Toads, like chickens, have only one, multifunction, hindermost orifice, the cloaca.

~ B in T

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: GUEST,Mappa Mundi
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 11:56 AM

Toads, along with hedgehogs, pheasant and rabbits etc, - as a rule - explode at a rate roughly exponential to the speed of the tyre/s hitting them!
ie, 30 mph = slight mess.

    70 mph = motorway pizza.

    120 mph = animal vapour.

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: mandoleer
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 06:32 PM

In Muddle Earth there are exploding gas frogs, but there's no mention of toads that I can recall.

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 07:38 PM

In England the season for toads to migrate across roads lasts from February to May, apparently. They migrate in sufficiently large numbers to reduce skid resistance, which is why there are toad warning signs at authenticated crossing points. I didn't know they exploded as well, though.

Kitty

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 10:23 PM

When I was a kid and fireworks were still legal, some daring souls ...

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 05:21 AM

Hedgehogs don't explode very well... their skins really are so tough that they tend to go at the weakest points, which is why you usually see hedgehogs flattened whole. I've seen one that had a jetison streak 4ft long.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: mooman
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 07:10 AM

Needless to say

The Sun

provides a helpful graphic (Ono toads harmed in the making thereof).

Health warning: Please resist the urge to navigate to page 3.

Another source suggests a fungal infection imported by "foreign racehorses" at the nearby racecourse.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 09:04 AM

Well the defence mechanism is a stupid theory..... you aren't supposed to end up worse off when deploying a defence mechanism!

It could be that they're out at night eating slugs that like the dark and damp. If the slugs have been treated with a slug repellant, they may be causing a buildup of gas internally. Can toads fart?

I had a cat that liked eating slugs. She also liked eating slug pellets. The pellets were OK for pets if eaten but not recommended. Cat ate slugs, cat OK. Cat ate slug pellets, cat OK. Cat eats slugs that have eaten slug pellets ~ bright blue cat puke all over the house.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 09:38 AM

When they find out what's causing the exploding toads, can they send some of whatever it is over here so we can explode some armadillos?

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 11:13 AM

BWL, why would you want to explode those cute armadillos? Are they digging up your garden?

question:
Do you know how many [Texas A&M] Aggies it takes to eat an armadillo?

answer:
Two. One to eat it and one to watch for cars.
...

On one of my may trips to Mexico (from Arizona) back in the early 1980s I bought a handbag for a friend of mine in Texas (where they appreciate this kind of thing)--it was an armadillo, completely skinned out, head and all, curled so the head was the flap that clasped over where the butt and tail were. It was nicely lined with a rich red fabric, had a heavy gold-tone magnetic snap to keep it closed, and had a long leather shoulder strap. Think of it--a good side business, instead of just blowing them up. Just don't try it with road kill armadillos, or women will complain that they're losing small articles through the cracks between the bands.

And finally, here is the "Not my job" armadillo.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Wolfgang
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 11:59 AM

the defence mechanism is a stupid theory (Liz)

I didn't know the Sun was considered a newspaper worth a response. Of course they got it wrong.
The theory meant actually is that craws eat the liver of the toads while these walk around. During that process the skin just behind the shoulder part of the toad is damaged. For mating purposes the toads blow up themselves and in the injured animals the weak part of the skin gives in and what was tought to be the start of a concert is actually the end of it with a Boom.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 01:33 PM

Ah, Wolfgang, thanks for reminding me of La Fontaine and Aesop (Le Grenouille qui se fait aussi gros qu'un boeuf).

Kitty

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: *Laura*
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 03:09 PM

Do you get Armadillos dead on the side of the road the same way we get badgers dead on the side of the road?

I've always wondered that.

xLx

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 04:33 PM

Actually that is a possum in the picture.....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 05:56 PM

Very observant, Liz.

No, Laura, armadillos rarely make it to the side of the road to expire. They usually wind up in the traffic lanes where what parts the buzzards and crows don't eat soon become fully integrated with the pavement.

One reason is that an armadillo's natural response to danger is to jump straight up in the air. If you miss one with your wheels, he'll jump up while he's under the moving car. Splat!

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 04:54 AM

Won't they roll up and get bowled along the carriageway like a basketball?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: GUEST,The Barden of England
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 09:04 AM

I'm waiting for an exploding tortoise as I'm running low on plectrums
John B

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 09:56 AM

You need a pangolin for plectrums... no carving necessary.... see?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: GUEST,Wolfgang
Date: 28 Apr 05 - 06:49 AM

The explanation with the crows picking the liver has turned out to be the correct one (with some details slightly different).

People often like to jump to the conclusion of a human influence when they see something surprising in nature, that's what many did in Germany, but in this case they were wrong. It is a rare but natural phenomenon.

I'm sure it will add to the discussion in Germany whether craws should be shot like in former years.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler via the Mudcatflap
Date: 28 Apr 05 - 07:03 AM

This seems to be an urban myth: actual "explosions" only seen by "someone else". Possibly extrapolated by Chinese Whispers from seeing a bunch of migrating toads/ frogs that have been attacked by a flock of gulls and disembowelled , speculating as to cause and migrating to claiming to "see" what was suggested. (According to the paper I read!).

RtS
(I only did Psychology as a minor at Uni but learned enough about "unreliable evidence" of observations to be suspicious!)

Subject: RE: BS: exploding toads in Germany
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Apr 05 - 08:18 PM

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20050428-1231-explodingtoads.html

It would appear that the crows are the culprits. At least it is the best theory so far.

One German scientist studying the splattered amphibian remains has a theory: Hungry crows are pecking out their livers.

"The crows are clever," said Frank Mutschmann, a Berlin veterinarian who collected and tested specimens at the Hamburg pond. "They learn quickly from watching other crows how to get the livers."

Based on the wounds, Mutschmann said, it appears that a bird pecks into the toad with its beak between the amphibian's chest and abdominal cavity, and the toad puffs itself up as a natural defense mechanism.

But, because the liver is missing and there's a hole in the toad's body, the blood vessels and lungs burst and the other organs ooze out, he said.