It is early evening in Australia’s top end, and a hunter stalks its prey. Keenly alert, the northern quoll follows the sound of rustling in the leaf litter. It must be some kind of frog, the small carnivorous marsupial decides, and pounces. But the quoll is seized by an immediate pain in the mouth, and drops its prey. It’s already too late.
The rustling was not a frog, but a poisonous cane toad. The toad’s toxin has sprayed into the quoll’s mouth and within seconds the quoll is vomiting. Within minutes it is incapacitated and spasming as its heart fails. And 20 minutes later the quoll is dead.
This scene has played out countless times in the 90 years since invasive cane toads were released on the Queensland coast and hopped west to Australia’s tropical north. They were originally native to South America, and brought to Australia to control beetle pests in sugarcane. And they kill not only quolls and their kin, but other predators such as freshwater crocodiles, goannas, and snakes.
