The "Pond of Death": Toads that explode!

In some places it rains aranas, in others, toads explode!

2005.Barrio de Alstona, Hamburg, 2:00 AM.Shot-like sounds sound near a pond in the area.neighbors come to the pond can not believe what their eyes see: the toads swell three times their size to end stilling.

This incident It was repeated for a few days and left up to 1,000 bodies of lifeless toads floating in the water.The news of the macabre spectacle quickly reached the press that baptized the pond with the name of « Pond of death «.

The

First hypotheses

The phenomenon puzzled the experts, who could not understand why the toads exploded.

Tests were quickly carried out to check the quality of the water .The results determined that it was not contaminated and that the frogs did not suffer from any disease.

There was speculation about the possibility that they had contracted a virus from of the feces of the horses that passed by a nearby road.Even there was talk of suicides with the aim of controlling the overpopulation of the species itself in the area.

None of these The hypothesis was correct and it seemed impossible to understand the causes of such unnatural deaths, until a amphibian expert solved the mystery .

The

The incredible resolution

Dr.Frank Mutchsmann-an amphibian specialist-dedicated himself to investigating the bodies of the toads and noticed that they had two characteristics in common: they all had a circular wound in their sp aldas and missing the liver.

After several checks, Dr.Mutchsmann came to a conclusion: the shape of the incisions coincides with that of the peak of a bird.The type of wound showed that it was not a ferret or a fox who had attacked the toads, but birds, specifically, keys.

According to Dr.Mutchsmann: "It was clearly the work of crows, which are intelligent enough to know that the skin of the toad is toxic and decide that the liver is the only part of which it is worth feeding."

The

Apparently, the toad does not notice that they are attacking him until the liver has been removed.Once this happens, he swells using his natural defense mechanism, but since he has no liver-no ribs or diaphragm-to hold the orga each other, the lungs swell disproportionately and explode , throwing off the rest of the body parts.

Dr.Mutschmann theorized that possibly the ravens attacked the toads during the mating of these and that is why they did not notice the aggression until it was too late.Once one of the crows discovered how to attack the toads without poisoning, the rest learned by observing.behavior that demonstrates a reasoning ability amazing but at the same time, in this case, quite disturbing.

In any case, it should be added that Dr.Mutchsmann said that the attack should not have been too painful and that the crows should not be blamed, after all «it is part of the nature important.

If you You liked this article, you may be interested in meeting the terrifying giant scorpions.

Images: Dave Huth, ☼zlady, num b-El Condor, LouisvilleUSACE

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