Crocs v cane toads: can crocodiles in Western Australia be taught to avoid the toxic intruder?

Freshwater crocodile in Western Australia. Cane toads are on the march across the Kimberley, but ecologists have a plan. Photograph: Paul Mayall/Alamy

Cane toads are poisoning freshwater crocodiles as they continue their march across Western Australia’s Kimberley region. But in Windjana Gorge, ahead of the front, researchers are gearing up to combat a mass mortality event – lacing cane toad corpses with nausea-inducing chemicals in a bid to train native crocs to stay away from the pests.

As the Kimberley’s dry season progresses through September into October, and rivers shrink to pools, “you get this huge density of crocodiles from the whole river system congregating,” Dr Georgia Ward-Fear, Macquarie University ecologist, explains.