Toxic toads could devastate Madagascar’s biodiversity
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/06/toxic-toads-could-devastate-madagascar-s-biodiversity
Asian common toads are an invasive species in Madagascar, threatening the island’s unique biodiversity.
In 2014, a toxic invasive species—the Asian common toad—was spotted in Madagascar’s largest seaport. Conservation biologists quickly sounded an urgent alarm, warning that the invader could devastate the African island’s unique biodiversity, which includes lemurs and hundreds of other animals found nowhere else in the world. Now, scientists have confirmed that the toad’s toxic slime will likely kill nearly everything in Madagascar that tries to eat it, according to a study that surveyed the susceptibility of 88 species.