ScienceDaily — Ecologists in Australia have successfully trained a critically endangered marsupial -- the northern quoll -- to turn its nose up at toxic cane toads. Their results, including fascinating behavioural video footage, were published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology and could provide conservationists with a vital new weapon in the fight against invasive species.
Working with the Territory Wildlife Park captive breeding and reintroduction programme, the researchers took a group of 62 young quolls and taught half (the so-called "toad-smart" group) to associate eating a cane toad with feeling sick.
A few days before the quolls were reintroduced to the wild, members of the toad-smart group were fed a small dead cane toad laced with nausea-inducing thiabendazole. The cane toad, which weighed less than 2 grams, was not large enough to kill the quoll but the chemical made them feel sick.
Endangered quolls taught to turn their noses up at toxic toad
Well at least that is one less animal that the cane toads can’t poison now!
Working with the Territory Wildlife Park captive breeding and reintroduction programme, the researchers took a group of 62 young quolls and taught half (the so-called "toad-smart" group) to associate eating a cane toad with feeling sick.
A few days before the quolls were reintroduced to the wild, members of the toad-smart group were fed a small dead cane toad laced with nausea-inducing thiabendazole. The cane toad, which weighed less than 2 grams, was not large enough to kill the quoll but the chemical made them feel sick.
Endangered quolls taught to turn their noses up at toxic toad
Well at least that is one less animal that the cane toads can’t poison now!
