Invasive bee feared as next cane toad

A SPECIES of bee, regarded as the cane toad of the insect world, has invaded Australia and may seriously disrupt the nation's farming industry.

Dam fences dry up toads

Restricting water access to cane toads could be the most effective way to reduce their spread, a study has found. A team led by a Sydney ecologist, Mike Letnic, erected fences around artificial water holes in the Victoria River catchment in the Northern Territory. In three days, toads in the area had been eradicated. Published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society: B, Dr Letnic said toads required constant access to surface water: "If you can imagine a fire break, we can make a toad break." Nicky Phillips

ATHEISM AND CATHOLICISM

Lack of fact, logic and argument THANKS, Greg Craven (Comment & Debate, 4/11), for providing an academic example of an ad hominem argument €” one which attacks the person instead of debating their ideas. Rather than comparing atheists to frogs and blowflies, a sound argument would account logically and factually for the existence of a god and thus prove the atheist tenet wrong. And any attack on the Catholic Church would be countered with numerous examples of the respect that its authorities have consistently shown for human rights, intellectual enquiry and freedom of belief and dissent, for which the Vatican holds an impeccable record.

Grain Farmers Dismiss Fears As Gm Canola Heads To Market

"IT'S not the next cane toad," insists Mick Townsend of the controversial crop close to harvesting on his farm near Canowindra.

Cane Toads Hop Up For A Sequel

TWENTY years ago Mark Lewis made a popular comic documentary that showed how Australians were dealing with the expanding menace of the cane toad. That overseas interest has led to a feature-length sequel to Cane Toads: An Unnatural History, which Lewis starts filming in two weeks. It is partly backed by Participant Media, an American company that has been involved in such social issues-related documentaries and feature films as An Inconvenient Truth, Murderball, Good Night, And Good Luck, Syriana ...

Melbourne's Cool Reception To Stop The Cane Toad's Hop

A TWO-METRE sprint event featuring cane toads has helped scientists work out the risk of their invasion across Australia.

Cool Reception To Halt Cane Toads

A TWO-METRE sprint event featuring cane toads has helped scientists work out the risk of their invasion across Australia.

Unwanted Visitor Warms To Migration

THE first official discovery of a cane toad in Forster-Tuncurry has sparked fears the northern invader could head further south.

The Age Diary

It's the cane toad of the dictionary

Toad Warriors

Having conquered the Top End, cane toads are on the hop again and spreading towards Western Australia. Who are the sandgropers gonna call? Mark Dapin joins the military-style recruits being deployed to repel the ugly invaders.

Lock Up Your Cats And Dogs! Darwin Prepares For Cane Toad Assault

BOMBED by the Japanese in World War II and flattened by Cyclone Tracy, Darwin has been slow to respond to its latest dire threat: the imminent arrival of poisonous cane toads.

Cane Toads Hitch Ride To Sydney

AUSTRALIA'S perpetual scourge, the cane toad, has again found its way to Sydney, with a group of the pests hitching a ride to the city's west on a truck.

Ever-spreading Cane Toads Getting The Jump On Native Frogs

New research suggests for the first time that the introduced cane toad can seriously damage populations of native frogs. The research was funded by the CSIRO and conducted by scientists from the University of Queensland's zoology department.

Scientists Steal The Jump On Cane Toads

Scientists are preparing to test a virus that could spell the end for one of Australia's most infamous pests, the Venezuelan cane toad.

Cane Toad Found At Menai

A Queensland cane toad has been found in the front yard of a house in southern Sydney.

Cane Toad Captured In Woonona

The prospect of cane toads breeding in Wollongong is a step closer following the weekend discovery of one of the detested Queensland critters in a Woonona backyard.

Scientists Plan Gene Attack To Render Cane Toads Hopless

SCIENCE REPORTER Since cane toads were released in Australia in 1935 they have withstood all attempts to bump them off. Finding a natural predator failed. Distracting them with sex hormones didn't work. Even cane toad cricket - where toads were substituted for cricket balls - couldn't halt the

On Their High Horse: Cane Toad Linked With Positive Drug Test

The skin of a cane toad's back has been linked with a positive swab from a horse prepared by top NSW trainer Darren Hancock. Hancock, who returns today from Canada where he has been inspecting stables in preparation for his move there in the new year, had his pacer Decoy record a positive swab t

Cane Toad Hordes Heading South

Cane toads can weigh up to half a kilo, have rough, warty, dry skin, large poison glands on each shoulder and a pointed snout with a bony ridge. And they are no longer a Queensland problem - cane toads are on the march to Wollongong. The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) launched

Anyone For Cane Toad?

THE invincible cane toad may have met its match ? the Chinese food market. Cane toad is one of the more unusual food products from the Northern Territory set to be exported to China later this year. Another is jellyfish. John Ratcliffe, a Melbourne-based practitioner of Chinese medicine, is or