The publisher and the University of California Press Foundation gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Ralph and Shirley Shapiro Endowment Fund in Environmental Studies. Cane Toad Wars organisms and environments Harry W. Greene, Consulting Editor Cane Toad Wars Rick Shine UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Oakland, California © 2018 by Th e Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Shine, Richard, author. Title: Cane toad wars / Rick Shine. Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifi ers: lccn 2017044544 (print) | lccn 2017048226 (ebook) | isbn 9780520967984 (ebook) | isbn 9780520295100 (paper laminated cloth (plc) : alk. paper) Subjects: lcsh: Bufo marinus—Australia. | Biological invasions—Australia. Classifi cation: lcc ql668.e227 (ebook) | lcc ql668.e227 s55 2018 (print) |  ddc 597.8/70994—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017044544 Manufactured in the United States of America 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 CONTENTS Foreword by Harry W. Greene vii Preface xi 1 (cid:129) An Ecological Catastrophe 1 2 (cid:129) How the Cane Toad Came to Australia 13 3 (cid:129) Arrival of Cane Toads at Fogg Dam 36 4 (cid:129) How Cane Toads Have Adapted and Dispersed 55 5 (cid:129) Th e Impact of Cane Toads on Australian Wildlife 79 6 (cid:129) How the Ecosystem Has Fought Back 108 7 (cid:129) Citizens Take On the Toad 130 8 (cid:129) Th e Quest for a Way to Control the Toad 155 9 (cid:129) A New Toolkit for Fighting the Toad 178 10 (cid:129) Toad Control Moves from the Lab to the Field 203 11 (cid:129) What We’ve Learned 228 Acknowledgments 245 Appendix 247 Bibliography and Suggested Reading 251 Index 259 FOREWORD Cane Toad Wars is the fi ft eenth installment in the University of California Press’s Organisms and Environments series, whose unifying themes are the diversity of life, the ways that living things interact with each other and their surroundings, and the implications of those relationships for science and soci- ety. We have sought works that promote unusual and unexpected connections among seemingly disparate subjects, and that are distinguished by the unique talents and perspectives of their authors. Previous volumes spanned topics as diverse as treeshrew behavior and grassland ecology, but none have addressed such an extremely complex conservation dilemma as the one explored herein. Cane Toad Wars engagingly recounts the most recent phase in Richard Shine’s illustrious, career-long obsession with a fascinating continent and its biota. Previously, Rick had mainly studied the natural history of lizards and snakes, but here he turns to the ecological, cultural, and political processes underlying a notorious alien’s success story—indeed, his creatures of choice are famously emblematic of human intervention gone haywire. Technically, alien species are those not present in a region prior to modern times; invasive species are aliens whose exploding populations negatively aff ect native eco- systems and/or human welfare. Averaging roughly two pounds each, Cane Toads were introduced from the Neotropics to the Land Down Under in 1935 to control beetle pests in commercial sugarcane. Th ey are veritable eating and breeding machines and—squat bodies notwithstanding—astonishing long- distance hoppers. Within decades, these drab (some would say grotesque) amphibians had failed at their intended purpose but increased dramatically in population size and distribution, their explosive deployment causing cata- strophic declines among some endemic wildlife. In the pantheon of invasive species, Cane Toads were soon superstars. vii