The cane toad is also known as the marine toad or bufo toad. We found the cane toad below in Haaula, Hawaii at my parent's home one evening.
They are originally native to Central and South America, but have been introduced into other places, such as Hawaii. They can get huge. The largest one recorded was 15 inches long, from snout to vent, and weighed 5.8 pounds. The parotoid glands, below, contain poison. When frightened, they can secrete the poison and can be dangerous, particularly to other animals, and children. Some people actually do "toad licking" with these toads and get a psychadelic high, but it is very dangerous. Many dogs in Hawaii are killed each year in encounters with these toads. They have distinctive ridges above the eyes which run down the snout.
At the time, in 1993, I had no idea they were so poisonous and Sam had this one in his hand. Fortunately, it did not appear to be too bothered.
Another, different, view of the ridges above the eyes and the parotoid glands.
A picture of the cane toad in a bucket.
Finally, this is one of the more impressive pictures I've seen - found it on the internet. Look at the size of this cane toad! It looks like it is big enough to swallow a large rodents.
We used to catch buckets full of these, literally, after it rained at night on the lawn. In fact we used to get really disgusted with them because they would burrow into the grass and we would step on them by accident as we did activities in the yard.
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