‘A Toad-Eat-Toad World,’ and Other Tales of Animal Cannibals
By NATALIE ANGIER
Published: October 31, 2011
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| Clockwise from top left: B.G. Thomson/Photo Researchers; Photo Researchers, via Getty Images; Ian Waldie, via Getty Images; and Steffen Schmidt. Midsize cane toads lure younger cane toads, which the bigger toads then swallow whole. A mother caecilian, top right, stays by her young and literally feeds them herself. Tamarin monkeys don't eat their offspring, except when they do. The female redback spider makes a meal of her mates. |
When Richard Shine, a biologist at the University of Sydney in Australia, first heard the mystery of the missing eggs, he feared it was another case of what might be called invasive toadkill. He and his colleagues were studying the cane toad, Rhinella marina, a big, warty, sludge-colored Latin American amphibian that was brought to the continent years ago in an ill-fated effort at beetle control.
