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April 25, 2005
Exploding Toads Baffle Scientists
Creation often baffles scientists, sometimes in the most bizarre ways. However, I don't think I've ever seen this before:
Hundreds of toads have met a bizarre and sinister end in Germany in recent days, it was reported: they exploded.Some are guessing the phenomenon is caused by a virus or fungus....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 (three feet).
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.
"You see the animals crawling on the ground, swelling and then exploding."
More here from the Washington Post
Update - Crows may be causing the toads to explode:
Why are toads puffing up and spontaneously exploding in northern Europe? It began in a posh German neighborhood and has spread across the border into Denmark. It's left onlookers baffled, but one German scientist studying the splattered amphibian remains now has a theory: Hungry crows may be 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
."
Posted by Blogorithm at April 25, 2005 07:14 AM
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