A giant cane toad weighing 2.7kg dubbed “Toadzilla” has been discovered in an Australian rainforest.
The amphibian- believed to be the heaviest ever recorded- was discovered by “shocked” park rangers in Conway National Park in Queensland state on January 12.
Ranger Kylee Gray said her team were “blown away” by the “monster” toad saying it looked “almost like a football with legs”.
Ms Gray and her colleagues caught the animal and brought it back to their office, where it weighed in at a 2.7 kg.
Guinness World Records lists the largest toad at 2.65 kg, a 1991 record set by a Swedish pet.
The animal, six times bigger than the average toad has since been euthanised, as is standard practice in Australia for the pests and will be donated to the Queensland Museum.
Ms Gray says this giant specimen likely bulked out on a diet of insects, reptiles and small mammals.
“A cane toad that size will eat anything it can fit into its mouth,” she said.
“We considered naming her Connie after Conway National Park but Toadzilla was the one that just kept getting thrown out there, so that kind of stuck,” Ms Gray told state broadcaster ABC on Friday.
Cane toads were introduced to Australia in 1935 to control cane beetles and other pests but their population exploded and with no natural predators they have become a threat to Australian species, senior park ranger Barry Nolan said.
“A female cane toad like potentially Toadzilla would lay up to 35,000 eggs. So their capacity to reproduce is quite staggering. And all parts of the cane toad’s breeding cycle are poisonous to Australian native species, so prevention is a big part of how we need to manage them,” he said.
