Paul Szmal: James and Jake are here from the Wildlife Rockstars with a special guest as always in the studio. James, how are you this morning?
Guest: Good. How are you?
Paul Szmal: Good. Good. Jake, what's going on, man?
Guest: I'm good. Thanks for having us. Jake's kind of got his hands full right now because he's holding our animal visitor of the month. So who's our guest of honor today?
Paul Szmal: So we have a South American marine toad, or they are also known as the cane toad. They are one of the largest toad species in the world. And they're one of the most invasive species in Australia. So they have a kind of interesting history and background to them. They were first introduced to Australia as a form of biological control. So they have a lot of sugarcane and there's the cane beetle that was kind of destroying the sugarcane crop. So it had worked in Hawaii. So they thought, why not try to bring the toads down to Australia and have them take care of the cane beetle? That didn't really work out because the toad populations kept exploding and the cane beetles like to feed on the roots or go up higher on the plant. And the toads weren't able to get to them at any point. And the toads can have up to 40,000 eggs every time that they breed. So having those toads expand and expand has kind of just impacted the ecosystem of Australia very badly.
Guest: Wow. So you said now he's a South African, South American, South American marine toad. So are these prevalent in South America then too?
Paul Szmal: Yes. That is where they are native to. And they were just brought to Hawaii and many other places hoping that it would be a good form of biological control.
Guest: Yeah. When we talk about biological control and eating beetles and stuff like that, that would infer to me that a toad's diet is primarily an insect diet.
Paul Szmal: Well, these guys will really eat anything that they can, whether that be other cane toads, small birds, trash. They will eat insects, but they'll really kind of eat anything. So they're almost like a scavenger.
Guest: Yeah. Wow. I can't imagine a guy like you just, you know, ponying out to the buffet and eating another one of your own species, but there you go.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. And the one we have is a male. So they're typically a lot smaller than the females, but they are also the ones that make vocalizations. So females are not able to do that, but the females get much larger. So I would say the one Jake is holding is probably four to five inches and doesn't even weigh a pound. They can get up to about 12 inches circumference and weigh up to five pounds.
Guest: Wow. So they can be very large where you might have to hold them with two hands. Now, one of the striking things that I've noticed from watching him for the past couple of minutes is that it looks like he only has one set of eyelids and he actually blinks from the bottom up.
Paul Szmal: So they do have kind of some sets of eyelids called nictitating membranes, and that also helps them with being able to see and not get things in their eyes and sometimes see underwater. But being a toad, they don't often go in the water, but it is kind of special that they do kind of close their eyes from the bottom. Kind of works as like a goggle for in the water for like us being able to see underwater.
Guest: Yeah. And other marine animals have that as well. Very nice. Very nice. Jake, you're actually handling him wearing gloves. What's the reason for that?
Paul Szmal: Yeah. So they actually breathe through their skin and they don't only breathe through the skin. They absorb really anything in their environment. So that includes in the air or in the water. So they're actually pretty useful because they're bio indicators as well, which means that they can kind of tell us the health of an environment based off of their skin. So think of a paper towel. If you were to put it into a dirty thing of water.
Guest: Yeah. That paper towel is going to pick up all that dirt.
Paul Szmal: It's kind of the same thing with their skin.
Guest: Yeah. So it can help us indicate how healthy something is.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. So in this case here, handling him with gloves is kind of like hygienic purposes for the handler because these animals are going around and getting into pretty much anything.
Guest: Yeah. And I would say the other thing is right behind their eyes. If you can see, they have these two big glands called parotid glands, and that's where they keep their poison. So they are actually very deadly to anything that tries to eat them. And that's at every stage of their life. They're poisonous in their eggs. They're poisonous when they're tadpoles and as they age and grow older. So most things that will try to eat them will either get sick or unfortunately die. And if you handle them, if you have any cuts on your hands or anything, and they were to release their poison, that could cause some damage to us as humans as well. So gloves, not just for me, for also them.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. Yeah. So that's their primary defense mechanism then against other predators. So what does he eat here in his habitat at the Wildlife Rockstars?
Guest: So they can get a mix of different things. Sometimes it'll be crickets, sometimes cockroaches, sometimes things called pinkies, which are baby mice. But they get an assortment of different things.
Paul Szmal: If you're eating cockroaches, bud, you're okay by me, man. Nobody likes cockroaches. We have James and Jake with us here from the Wildlife Rockstars. And we were talking just before we came on the air here. We have a South American marine toad that doesn't really have a name yet.
Guest: Yeah. So we've had many in the past. And as I said, they were female. So the typical name for them was Bella. And we went with that because Bella means beautiful in Italian. And we think the toads are beautiful, but not many people when they see them think, oh, that's such a gorgeous creature.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. He looks like an overgrown frog. What is the relationship between toads and frogs? Are they similar but different?
Guest: Yeah. So it's kind of like the turtle and tortoise thing. All toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads. Frogs go in the water much more. Toads are land-dwelling frogs. They have similar features on their body. Toads tend to be a little bit more dry and just kind of moisten their skin by going in the water. Meanwhile, frogs will kind of spend most of their time in the water.
Paul Szmal: He's got little feet.
Guest: They do. They have little feet and they've got little kind of pads on the bottom of them. And that just kind of helps them support and stick to wherever they're going.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. And he's got like the good camouflage color. So I'm sure that's a benefit in the wild.
Guest: Yeah, absolutely. Most of the time they'll kind of wiggle their way into the dirt. And oftentimes when they're in their enclosure, they'll kind of bury themselves and it's even hard to see them for us. So what do people think, especially what do the kids think when you bring him out?
Paul Szmal: They're often amazed by the size. They're like, that's the biggest toad I've ever seen. I get told a lot that they're not real. They think they're fake or like little toys.
Guest: Well, I was just thinking about, I first went down the hall to see what we had coming in and I usually get the heads up the day before. I was expecting with a toad, I was expecting something a little bit bigger. Not quite as big though as him.
Paul Szmal: Yes, they are. They're pretty fascinating. You don't typically get to see this large of a toad just kind of moving around in the yard or when you're going to the park. So it is nice to bring that to people as well as explaining how damaging invasive species can be to certain ecosystems. Do we know how old he is? What's the life expectancy for one of these South American marine toads?
Guest: I think this guy is probably around three or four years old. And I think they can probably get up to maybe 10 to 15 years or a little bit older. All kind of depending on if they're in captivity or in the wild.
Paul Szmal: Right. And also in the wild they don't have any active predators that can really eat them. Only other predators or other cane toads.
Guest: Right, right. That still kind of fascinates me that they would actually go after their own species like that. So that's pretty wild. Hey, I want to talk about a couple other things that the Wildlife Rockstars have going on. Always, you guys are busy with presentations even during the summer months.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, absolutely. So actually coming up this coming Wednesday, July 1st, will be our first presentation back at Eastview Mall in Victor. And we'll be there every Wednesday throughout the summer. So if you want to come visit us, you will definitely see the South American marine toad there many times. Saturday, July 11th, we will be doing a meet and greet at the CountryMax in Fairport. And then finishing off the month, one of our annual events that we always love to attend is the Ontario County Fair. So we will be there the last week of the month, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So please don't miss out and come give us a visit.
Guest: And that CountryMax event, that's a Stuff the Bus campaign event, right?
Paul Szmal: That one will be in August. So our Stuff the Bus event will be in August. The one at CountryMax will kind of be a reading event and then a more of an informal meet and greet afterwards. And there's an ongoing can and bottle drive happening as well.
Guest: Yeah, absolutely. So we like to, as conservationists, try to protect the environment and recycle as much as we can. And any of the profit from the bottles and cans goes right back to the animals. So if you have any excess bottles and cans that you would like to donate, you could either bring them to our facility, or if it's easier for you, we will always come and pick them up. And any of that information is available on our website or our Facebook, as well as most of our public presentations.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, you just look up Wildlife Rockstars and that'll take you right to the page. So James, Jake, as always, appreciate you bringing an animal in. And thank you, Toad with no name yet.
Guest: Thank you very much for having us.
