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Cane Toad

Cane Toad line art illustration (click image to enlarge)

Cane Toad full color illustration (click image to enlarge)

Artist's notes:

The Cane Toad was completed on 9.15.10. The drawing is based on a photo by award winning wildlife photographer Pierson Hill. I'm always happy to draw an amphibian, even one that I have a love/hate relationship like the Cane Toad - which is one of the most destructive invasive species on the planet. But I have to keep in mind it's not the toad's fault, but the people who introduced the animal into an environment that couldn't handle it.

Information about the Cane Toad:

The Cane Toad - also called the Marine Toad or Giant Neo-tropical Toad - is a very large amphibian native to the rainforests of Central and South America. It has also been introduced (sometime deliberately, sometimes accidentally) to islands of the South Pacific, Hawaii and notably Australia, where the massive negative impact to the natural ecosystems has been particularly devastating. Unlike the animals who usually feed on the toad in it's native range, most predators do not have any defense against the toad's highly toxic poison glands, usually resulting in death. The toads amazing reproductive cycle also allows it to breed exponentially. At this time there is no way to control them and they continue to exterminate native wildlife and spread their range.