Today is the third installment of our new series: "Creature Feature".

Where I look at a different species every single week.

And tell you a couple of facts which you may or may not have known about them.

Today's creature is a really charming little dude.

And I'm hoping that you'll find him "toad"-ally awesome.

[Burp]

Also, just really quickly, I want to show you this new necklace which I've got from the "BIRCHpls" studio.

This is an axolotl that I'm wearing today.

Which is a kind of aquatic amphibian.

They are one of my favorite animals.

If you don't know about axolotls, I'll try and feature them at some point.

But I just thought that given the animal we're going to look at today.

It was a rather fitting one to wear.

If you are interested in Fran's shop, I will leave her details in the description box below.

And if you're watching this, Fran, then hi!

Da-da!

This here is my buddy, and his name is Prince Charming.

Hi! [Stitch from "Lilo and Stitch" voice]

The species I have here today, who is running away right now,

is the Cane Toad.

The Cane Toad from South America.

If you could just figure out where you're happiest, then that'd be great [Sped-up voice].

Toad butt, in my face.

Prince Charming is an amphibian.

Amphibians are cold-blooded creatures which can live in the water and come out onto the land.

Amphibians usually begin life in a water-dwelling larval state such as a tadpole.

Which uses its gills to breathe underwater.

As the tadpoles grow, change, and metamorphosize.

They usually lose their gills and their ability to be fully aquatic.

There are a few exceptions, such as the axolotl.

But that's a whole other Creature Feature.

Cane Toads can live between ten and 12 years.

In their natural habitat in South America that would be substantially less.

Because they do get predated on in their natural habitat.

Foodwise, Cane Toads can eat almost anything.

And this becomes a bit of a problem later on.

When I tell you a bit more about what they're most famous for.

Toads do have a kind of warty skin.

And it's a common misconception that if you hold a toad,

you're gonna catch warts.

That's just not the case, don't listen to that.

That's a myth.

Let's bust it!

Busted! [Sped-up voice]

Their skin's so fun to play with!

I know that he doesn't appreciate it but I'm just like, "I must feel you!"

Denied [Deep, altered voice].

In the wild, Cane Toads can eat almost anything.

If it fits in their mouth, they're gonna eat it.

Their favourite foods in their native South America are: beetles, other invertebrates, spiders, fishㄡ

The occasional small bird, and also, each-other.

Yes, they are cannibals!

These guys are also known as Marine Toads.

But more typically they're known as Cane Toads.

And I'll tell you why they're known as Cane Toads right now.

In the 1930s in Australia, so all the way [on] the other side of the world.

The Australian government were having really big issues with Cane Beetles eating up their sugar crops.

So the government had to think of a way

that they could preserve their crops but get rid of the beetles.

And the government thought to themselves,

"Hang on a second," lightbulb moment, "how about bringing in a natural predator"

"who will eat them up and that way we won't have to spray our crops?"

So in 1935,

The Australian government actually decided

to buy a whole load of Cane Toads.

They bought 100 Cane Toads from South America.

Unfortunately, the Australian government didn't test out their theory.

They had planned that the Cane Toads would eat the Cane Beetles.

This just wasn't the case.

Cane Toads are very, very, lazy.

They're very heavy-bodied and they can't really climb.

Whereas Cane Beetles are very fast, very agile, and they can climb very, very, well.

So oftentimes whenever a Cane Toad would encounter a Cane Beetle,

the Cane Beetle would just scurry off up into the crop,

while the Cane Toad was basically on the floor.

Thinking, "I've got a grumbling belly, what am I gonna eat instead?"

Well, unfortunately for the native wildlife, Cane Toads loved the taste of the native wildlife.

And most unfortunately of all,

is that these guys are actually poisonous.

There is poison inside these pouches.

In fact, do you see these little black dots here which look like pores?

Well, you'd be absolutely right.

If I were to massage those rather hard,

a big, pus-y looking liquid would come out of them,

just like if you were squeezing whiteheads.

So imagine you're some of the native Australian wildlife,

you see this toad and you think, "This looks like a tasty, tasty, meal, I'm going to eat it"

The second that you bite down on the toad and start chewing,

it's going to start emitting this poison.

And this poison is so toxic

that it can kill almost anything.

It will kill the snakes, it could kill a large mammal like a dingo.

It can even kill a fully grown Saltwater Crocodile.

And, you know, it's not just the adults who are poisonous.

The tadpoles are poisonous and the eggs are poisonous, too.

Some of you out there might be thinking, "Hang on a second"

"How come the Cane Toad is so poisonous to Australian wildlife,"

"but they get eaten by animals in their native land of South America?"

Well, that is a great question!

The answer lies in co-evolution.

The animals in South America had thousands, if not millions of years to develop

some level of immunity to the Cane Toad's poison.

When the Cane Toads were brought to Australia,

the native wildlife in Australia was taken by surprise,

and they haven't had time to develop immunity

despite Australia's best efforts.

It's so hard to contain these guys.

And where Australia started off with only 100 Cane Toads,

they now have well over 20 million.

Cane Toads are not just invasive in Australia,

there's also a huge population of Cane Toads in Florida!

Some speculate that they are the result of escaped or released pets,

others think a more likely option was the amount of Cane Toads released

during the filming of the 1972 cult horror film "Frogs".

Which is an amazing film, by the way, you should totally go watch it.

The footage you see here

was taken by my friend and fellow reptile enthusiast, Jennifer Beth-Lewis,

who lives in Florida.

Here, you can clearly see three wild Cane Toads raiding her dog's food bowl

Remember, never release pet animals into the wild

especially if they're not native.

Let me know in the comments box down below if you learned something new today.

I hope you did, I hope you found something interesting

even if you weren't a big fan of toads in general.

Thank you guys so much for watching, and we will see you in another video shortly.

Bye!

You gonna wave?

You gonna -- should we -- let's wave, wave!

Wave your back feet.

Bye! [Laughs]

[Burp]

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