A giant, warty almost three kilogram cane toad has been discovered in northern Queensland that smashes previous world records.
The huge amphibian was found when rangers were clearing a trail at Conway National Park in the Whitsunday region.
Ranger Kylee Gray thought it was a practical joke at first, but then realised it was breathing.
"I just couldn't believe it to be honest - I've never seen anything so big," she told the ABC.
Rangers had stopped on a bush track when they saw red-belly black snake.
"We stopped to let the snake pass and got out of the vehicle and right next to us was this huge cane toad," she said.
"A big warty, brown, ugly cane toad just sitting in the dirt ... [it looked] almost like a football with legs."
"It flinched when I walked up to it and I yelled out to my supervisor to show him."
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The Guinness World Records said the largest known cane toad was a pet called The Prince that weighed in at 2.65 kilograms in 1991.
Unfortunately the rangers didn't weigh the giant amphibian they dubbed Toadzilla.
"We didn't get it on certified scales ... so we're sort of kicking ourselves," Ms Gray said.
The 2.7-kilogram toad and was 25 centimetres.
Rangers believe Toadzilla was female due to its size, and females grow bigger than males.
The poisonous pest was euthanised and will be taken to the Queensland Museum in Brisbane.
Cane toad fast facts
- Introduced into Queensland in 1935 to control the cane beetle
- Recognised by the Commonwealth Government as a key threatening process to the nation under the national Environment Biodiversity and Conservation Act 1999
- Obtains a large size, up to 26cm and weighing 2.5kg, but specimens of this size are rare
- Female cane toads can produce up to 30,000 eggs in a season
- Can be fatally poisonous to wildlife and have caused local extinctions of some of their predators
Source: Queensland Department of Environment and Science
Nadine Morton
Breaking news journalist at the Illawarra Mercury. Email: nadine.morton@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Breaking news journalist at the Illawarra Mercury. Email: nadine.morton@austcommunitymedia.com.au
