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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
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
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To: Lessismore
Coming soon to a theatre near you
2
posted on
04/23/2005 8:46:32 PM PDT
by
woofie
(I am so not kidding.)
To: martin_fierro
ribbi--BOOM!
3
posted on
04/23/2005 8:47:48 PM PDT
by
drlevy88
To: Lessismore
To: Lessismore
5
posted on
04/23/2005 8:48:05 PM PDT
by
FReepaholic
(Vote for Pedro)
To: drlevy88
ribbi--BOOM!
And the answer is What happens to a toad when he has gas and can't fart?????
To: Lessismore
The weirdest and sickest things always happen in either Germany or Florida.
7
posted on
04/23/2005 8:49:55 PM PDT
by
Mongeaux
To: Lessismore
8
posted on
04/23/2005 8:50:04 PM PDT
by
Bouchart
(I Will Crush You)
To: woofie
9
posted on
04/23/2005 8:50:27 PM PDT
by
woofie
(I am so not kidding.)
To: drlevy88
To: Bouchart
"Wannabe terrorist toads?"
TSA nightmare!!!!!
When Terror Toads Attack!!
11
posted on
04/23/2005 8:52:21 PM PDT
by
politicalwit
(USA...A Nation of Selective Law Enforcement.)
To: Lessismore
You don't suppose somebody has got a hold on one those new-fangled energy-beam weapons......
12
posted on
04/23/2005 8:54:11 PM PDT
by
stboz
To: tscislaw
Bad case of swamp gas.Real bad.
13
posted on
04/23/2005 8:54:26 PM PDT
by
harrowup
(Just naturally perfect, humble of course and obviously incapable of discrimination.)
To: drlevy88
Sort of like mother natures little bottle rockets?
14
posted on
04/23/2005 8:55:07 PM PDT
by
Tom602
(Democrats: Against the death penalty for convicted murderers and for killing the unborn & disabled.)
To: Lessismore
15
posted on
04/23/2005 8:59:30 PM PDT
by
RichInOC
(TAKE OFF EVERY 'TOAD'. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DOING. MOVE 'TOAD'. FOR GREAT JUSTICE.)
To: Lessismore
Is this what happened to Michael Moore on election night?
16
posted on
04/23/2005 9:03:43 PM PDT
by
SamAdams76
(Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out Of Hand?)
To: Lessismore
Did the toads recently convert to islam? Have they now become suicide bomber toads?
Inquiring minds want to know.
17
posted on
04/23/2005 9:05:15 PM PDT
by
Fiddlstix
(This Tagline for sale. (Presented by TagLines R US))
To: harrowup
bufotine
18
posted on
04/23/2005 9:05:25 PM PDT
by
Kay Syrah
(--)
To: Lessismore
"Its a beautiful evening,lets sit on the porch tonight Mother an watch the toads explode"
19
posted on
04/23/2005 9:07:08 PM PDT
by
woofie
(I am so not kidding.)
To: Kay Syrah
Thanks; I really needed that to make my day...I knew when I read this story that there was some guy it reminded me of....I have it copied for fun on Monday.
20
posted on
04/23/2005 9:08:59 PM PDT
by
harrowup
(Just naturally perfect, humble of course and obviously incapable of discrimination.)
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