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Article: Crocs crocked; The travelling toads.(Australian toads)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- July 12, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Not very tasty
Violence in Kakadu
A CROCODILE opens its jaws as a boat full of tourists passes. The croc may be thinking of its lunch; it may be yawning, as the aboriginal boatman suggests. Or it could have just swallowed a cane toad. Crocodiles and other wildlife in the Alligator River system draw thousands of tourists each year to Kakadu National Park, on Australia's northern tip near Darwin. A few tourists who swim in these rivers do not come out alive. But now the people-eating crocodiles are meeting their own unlikely match in the form of Australia's most prolific pest, the cane toad.
The toads were introduced from South America, via ...