Forget infantile jokes about how the fairy became pregnant. This is a serious post.
Toad’s Tool is the first, and only, graphically oriented Super Mario 64 level editor. Does that mean anything to you? Me neither.
An acclaimed scientific journal claims that ‘mankind has hankered after a tool that can detect impending seismic activity’. It seems the common toad (Bufo bufo to you) could fit the bill. The evidence comes from a population of toads which left their breeding colony three days before an earthquake that struck L’Aquila in Italy in 2009 (BBC report). Fatalities were in the hundreds and even ‘earthquake proof’ buildings collapsed.
Shortly after madame and I moved into our present house, and were sitting in the garden, we heard a rhythmic tapping sound that seemed to come from our neighbour’s garden. The house had been empty for more than a year, so machinery was ruled out. We learnt, from someone who knows about these things, that it was caused by a striped marsh frog, which has a ‘tock’ call, and sounds a like a dripping tap. That one solved then.
Toads deserve a more sympathetic press. Attracting them into your garden is a natural way of reducing your pest population. They live exclusively on insects, so encourage them. Autumn can be a hazardous time for them. Raking a pile of leaves that had blown into a corner we disturbed a toad which presumably thought there was a safe place to shelter from the winter. It was picked up carefully and given a safer home. It had a dry, bumpy skin.
This is public enemy No. 1 according to the Environment and Heritage department of NSW. Cane toads were brought to Australia from Hawaii with the intention of controlling the cane beetle in the sugar plantations in north Queensland. The beetles live high up on the upper stalks of the plant. The toads can’t jump that far so…… it was a wasted exercise. Scientists estimate that there are more than 200 million of them hopping around Australia causing havoc to the ecosystem. (Fact: Female toads can lay up to 30,000 eggs, twice a year!) Cane toads have no natural enemies and their spread could have a devastating impact on our native animal species. If you find one…..report it to the authorities.
Remember him? If you read Wind in the Willows when you were young you would have met him. How could you forget Mr. Toad of Toad Hall, a character lacking in even the most basic common sense and with a reckless interest in cars?
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