(111) Toads fall victim to crows in NT
Toads fall victim to crows in NT
By Katrina Bolton
ABC News, Sep 15, 2007
Cane toads have been doing pretty well in some of the Northern Territory's remote areas, but at a tiny outstation about 500 kilometres east of Darwin, people have started to see them falling out of the sky.
John Greatorex has been visiting the Mapura outstation for years, but has only recently discovered that the cane toads have found themselves a predator.
He says he was quietly have a cup of tea last week when things became a little strange.
"We were sitting down just having breakfast by the fire and there was this 'plok' just beside us," he said.
"I looked down and it was a cane toad and I thought, 'hey, how come a cane toad's falling out of a tree?' I thought 'no, it couldn't be', and I looked up and saw a crow."
Mr Greatorex says a few minutes later, it happened again.
"Plok! Another one landed and I looked up and there was another crow up there," he said.
"It flew down and picked up the cane toad and off it flew too, up into the tree and it grabbed the cane toad and turned it over up on the bough of this tree and started eating its insides."
Queensland crows have been reported eating cane toads, but there has been less evidence of it in the NT.
Mr Greatorex says he was not entirely convinced, so he went out that night, caught a toad and released it when the crows were around the next day.
"One of them turned its head and it walked over to this cane toad and grabbed it by its leg and turned it over," he said.
"After it had got good hold of the leg off it flew up into a tree and started eating it."
Roslyn Malnumba spends most of her days weaving baskets at Mapuru, and has also seen the crows eating toads.
She says she is thrilled about the discovery.
"I'm happy, because the cane toads [are] hopping in our places. I don't like those cane toads," she said.
At Alice Springs Desert Park, native bird trainer Gareth Cat says once a group of crows have learnt how to eat the toads, the knowledge should spread.
"Crows show remarkable cognitive abilities, a lot of research believes them to have higher cognitive abilities than a lot of apes," he said.
"They can think about what they're doing and even in certain cases show imagination, which is a pretty hard thing to try to comprehend."
(see also post 87, "The Death Pool")
By Katrina Bolton
ABC News, Sep 15, 2007
Cane toads have been doing pretty well in some of the Northern Territory's remote areas, but at a tiny outstation about 500 kilometres east of Darwin, people have started to see them falling out of the sky.
John Greatorex has been visiting the Mapura outstation for years, but has only recently discovered that the cane toads have found themselves a predator.
He says he was quietly have a cup of tea last week when things became a little strange.
"We were sitting down just having breakfast by the fire and there was this 'plok' just beside us," he said.
"I looked down and it was a cane toad and I thought, 'hey, how come a cane toad's falling out of a tree?' I thought 'no, it couldn't be', and I looked up and saw a crow."
Mr Greatorex says a few minutes later, it happened again.
"Plok! Another one landed and I looked up and there was another crow up there," he said.
"It flew down and picked up the cane toad and off it flew too, up into the tree and it grabbed the cane toad and turned it over up on the bough of this tree and started eating its insides."
Queensland crows have been reported eating cane toads, but there has been less evidence of it in the NT.
Mr Greatorex says he was not entirely convinced, so he went out that night, caught a toad and released it when the crows were around the next day.
"One of them turned its head and it walked over to this cane toad and grabbed it by its leg and turned it over," he said.
"After it had got good hold of the leg off it flew up into a tree and started eating it."
Roslyn Malnumba spends most of her days weaving baskets at Mapuru, and has also seen the crows eating toads.
She says she is thrilled about the discovery.
"I'm happy, because the cane toads [are] hopping in our places. I don't like those cane toads," she said.
At Alice Springs Desert Park, native bird trainer Gareth Cat says once a group of crows have learnt how to eat the toads, the knowledge should spread.
"Crows show remarkable cognitive abilities, a lot of research believes them to have higher cognitive abilities than a lot of apes," he said.
"They can think about what they're doing and even in certain cases show imagination, which is a pretty hard thing to try to comprehend."
(see also post 87, "The Death Pool")
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