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Exploding toads baffle experts
Australian Broadcasting ^ | 2005-04-24 | AFP

Posted on 04/23/2005 8:45:05 PM PDT by Lessismore

Hundreds of toads have met an unexplained, explosive demise in Germany in recent days, it was reported on Saturday.

According to reports from animal welfare workers and veterinarians as many as a thousand of the amphibians have perished after their bodies swelled to bursting point and their entrails were propelled for up to a metre.

It is like "a science fiction film", according to Werner Smolnik of a nature protection society in the northern city of Hamburg, where the phenomenon of the exploding toad has been observed.

"You see the animals crawling on the ground, swelling and then exploding," he said.

He said the bodies of the toads expanded to three-and-a-half times their normal size.

"I have never seen such a thing," said veterinarian Otto Horst.

So bad has the death toll been that the lake in the Altona district of Hamburg has been dubbed "the pond of death".

Access to it has been sealed off and every night a biologist visits it between 2:00am and 3:00am, which appears to be peak time for batrachians to go bang.

Explanations include an unknown virus, a fungus that has infected the water, or crows, which in an echo of the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds, attack the toads, literally scaring them to death.

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TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Germany; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: artbell; burst; bursting; callingartbell; dropsy; environment; frogs; germany; hamburg; toad; toads
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To: Judith Anne; Mother Abigail

Ping!

(I guess???)


21 posted on 04/23/2005 9:09:46 PM PDT by null and void (You're in Bloody Hands with Allah State...)
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To: Lessismore

Beavis and Butthead Alert?


22 posted on 04/23/2005 9:10:17 PM PDT by streetpreacher (God DOES exist; He's just not into you!)
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To: Lessismore

Or, the toads may have been drinking calcium-rich water and ingesting a bit of acid around the same time and, a few minutes later, good old CO2 bubbles up, or out, as you may.


23 posted on 04/23/2005 9:11:16 PM PDT by Old Professer (As darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of good; innocence is blind.)
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To: RichInOC

LOL! Who set us up the toad?


24 posted on 04/23/2005 9:11:27 PM PDT by Theresawithanh (Fee, Fie, Foe, FReep!!)
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To: Theresawithanh

All your toad farts ARE belong to us......


25 posted on 04/23/2005 9:12:52 PM PDT by Tom602 (Democrats: Against the death penalty for convicted murderers and for killing the unborn & disabled.)
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To: Bouchart

Perhaps it's a toad Jihad protesting against the German pope.


26 posted on 04/23/2005 9:13:59 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out Of Hand?)
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To: Lessismore
Some toads just don't get it.

They should know better than to eat Pop-Rocks and then drink a can of soda.

27 posted on 04/23/2005 9:17:50 PM PDT by Tom602 (Democrats: Against the death penalty for convicted murderers and for killing the unborn & disabled.)
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To: Lessismore

What a novel way for them to croak!


28 posted on 04/23/2005 9:18:28 PM PDT by punster
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To: Lessismore

OK, I didn't get the memo, but something tells me that this toad thing is seriesly hugh and will impact women and minorities the hardest...Ping me if I'm proven wrong...


29 posted on 04/23/2005 9:19:49 PM PDT by FDNYRHEROES (Make welfare as hard to get as a building permit)
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To: Old Professer

Alka-Seltzer for toads


30 posted on 04/23/2005 9:20:54 PM PDT by Yasotay
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To: Lessismore

Sounds like a from of the black death.


31 posted on 04/23/2005 9:20:55 PM PDT by BenLurkin (O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
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To: Lessismore

Please explode.

32 posted on 04/23/2005 9:22:18 PM PDT by LdSentinal
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To: BenLurkin

"Sounds like a from of the black death."

How many times do I have to tell you, don't use two prepositions together...


33 posted on 04/23/2005 9:28:02 PM PDT by Fam4Bush (Once upon a time, I was a spy...or maybe that's now...)
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To: kingattax

Exploding toads........Again....


34 posted on 04/23/2005 9:29:14 PM PDT by Fam4Bush (Once upon a time, I was a spy...or maybe that's now...)
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To: Bouchart

yeast infections?


35 posted on 04/23/2005 9:36:07 PM PDT by Vn_survivor_67-68
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To: Lessismore

The casino goes to the swamp and takes bets on which is the next toad to blow up.


36 posted on 04/23/2005 9:36:36 PM PDT by taxesareforever
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To: Darksheare; DarkshadowNY
ping

Ummm... were you and your brother here???

Maybe the toads have been ingesting the contents of a discarded, unused MRE heater. All the necessary elements - closed container (a.k.a. toad), MRE secret heater crystals, water (from pond). Hoppity hoppity, hoppiBOOM....
follower by the sound of running footsteps and maniacal laughter...

37 posted on 04/23/2005 9:37:35 PM PDT by NoCmpromiz (Deja Moo - The feeling you've heard this bull before...)
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To: Lessismore

Schadenfrosch?


38 posted on 04/23/2005 9:48:46 PM PDT by Wilhelm Tell
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To: punster

"What a novel way for them to croak!"

I hate puns, but this one's a beaut.


39 posted on 04/23/2005 9:52:34 PM PDT by righttackle44 (The most dangerous weapon in the world is a Marine with his rifle and the American people behind him)
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To: Lessismore

Did sombody throw some Alcoseltzer into the pond?


40 posted on 04/23/2005 10:37:56 PM PDT by Husker24
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