- What's making toads puff up and explode in northern Europe?
More than 1000 toad corpses have been found at a pond in an upscale neighborhood
in Hamburg and over the border in Denmark after bloating and bursting.
-
- It's left onlookers baffled. The pond water in Hamburg
has been tested, but its quality is no better or worse than elsewhere in
the city. The toad remains have been checked for a virus or bacterium,
but none has been found.
-
- One German scientist studying the splattered amphibian
remains has a theory: Hungry crows are pecking out their livers.
-
- "The crows are clever," said Frank Mutschmann,
a Berlin veterinarian who collected and tested specimens at the Hamburg
pond. "They learn quickly from watching other crows how to get the
livers."
-
- Based on the wounds, Mutschmann said, it appears that
a bird pecks into the toad with its beak between the amphibian's chest
and abdominal cavity, and the toad puffs itself up as a natural defense
mechanism.
-
- But, because the liver is missing and there's a hole
in the toad's body, the blood vessels and lungs burst and the other organs
ooze out, he said.
-
- As gruesome as it sounds, it isn't actually that unusual,
he said. "It's not unique -- it's in a city area, and that makes it
spectacular," Mutschmann said. "Of course, it's something very
dramatic."
-
- There have also been reports of exploded toads in a pond
near Laasby in central Jutland in Denmark.
-
- Local environmental workers in Hamburg have described
it as a scene out of a horror or science fiction movie, with the bloated
frogs agonizing and twitching for several minutes, inflating like balloons
before they suddenly burst.
-
- "It's horrible," biologist Heidi Mayerhoefer
was quoted as telling the daily Hamburger Morgenpost. "The toads
burst, the entrails slide out. But the animal isn't immediately dead --
they keep struggling for several minutes."
-
- Hamburg's Institute for Hygiene and the Environment regularly
tests water quality in the city and has found no evidence the toads were
diseased. The institute also ruled out a fungus brought in from South America
was infecting the toads.
-
- Other theories have been that horses on a nearby track
might have infected the amphibians with a virus, or even that the toads
are committing suicide to save others from overpopulation.
-
- Could hungry crows be a reasonable answer?
-
- "We haven't seen that. It might be, it might not
be," said institute spokeswoman Janne Kloepper. "It's speculation,"
until it's observed, she added.
-
- In the meantime, officials in Hamburg have advised residents
to stay away from the pond, which German tabloids have dubbed "the
death pool."
-
- http://www.signonsandiego.com
-
- ProMED-mail
- promed@promedmail.org
-
- This article mentions viruses and bacteria; it does not
mention toxins.
- Although the bird explanation may be accurate, it does
not appear that a
- toxicological screen has been run or that toxins have
been considered. -
- Mod.TG
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
|