: the length of her body reaches 24 cm (usually 15-17 cm), weight - more than a kilogram. Males are slightly smaller than females. Aga's skin is strongly keratinized, warty. The color is not bright: dark brown or gray above with large dark spots; belly yellowish, with frequent brown spots. Characterized by large parotid glands on the sides of the head, which produce a poisonous secret, and bony supraorbital ridges. Leathery membranes are present only on the hind legs. Like other nocturnal species, the aga toad has horizontal pupils.

Spreading

The natural range of the aga toad is from the Rio Grande in Texas to the central Amazon and northeastern Peru. In addition, the agu to combat insect pests was specially brought to East Coast Australia (mainly east Queensland and the coast of New South Wales), to southern Florida, to Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Japanese islands Ogasawara and Ryukyu and to many Caribbean and Pacific islands including Hawaii (in 1935) and Fiji. Aha can live in the temperature range of 5-40 °C.

Ecology

Aga toads are found from seaside sand dunes to forest edges rainforest and mangroves. Unlike other amphibians, they are constantly found in brackish waters mouths of rivers along the coast and on the islands. For this, yeah, and got its scientific name - Bufo marinus, "sea toad". The dry, keratinized skin of the aga is poorly suited for gas exchange, and, as a result, its lungs are among the most developed among amphibians. Aha can survive the loss of water reserves in the body up to 50%. Like all toads, she prefers to spend the day in shelters, going hunting at dusk. The lifestyle is mostly solitary. Moves in short, quick jumps. Taking a defensive position, they swell.

Crocodiles, freshwater lobsters, water rats, crows, herons and other animals that are immune to their poison prey on adult ag. Tadpoles are eaten by dragonfly nymphs, water beetles, some turtles, and snakes. Many predators eat only the toad's tongue, or they eat the belly, which contains less poisonous internal organs.

Life cycle

Agha larvae are black in color and disproportionately small compared to adults. Tadpoles feed on algae and other aquatic plants, which they scrape off with their five rows of teeth. Large tadpoles sometimes eat eggs of other ag. Metamorphosis occurs 2-20 weeks after hatching of the larvae (depending on nutrition and water temperature). Toads that have just gone through metamorphosis are also very small - only about 1-1.5 cm. After metamorphosis, young toads leave the reservoir and sometimes large quantities accumulate on the coast. Puberty occurs at the age of 1-1.5 years. Agi live up to 10 years (in nature) and up to 15 years (in captivity). Only 0.5% of toads hatched from eggs survive to reproductive age.

Nutrition

Adults are omnivores, which is uncharacteristic of toads: they eat arthropods and other invertebrates (bees, beetles, centipedes, cockroaches, locusts, ants, snails), but also other amphibians, small lizards, chicks and mouse-sized animals. Do not disdain carrion and garbage. On the coasts they eat crabs and jellyfish. In the absence of food, they can engage in cannibalism.

reproduction

The reproduction of ag is mainly confined to the rainy season, when temporary reservoirs are formed in many (June-October). Males gather in stagnant or slow waters and call females with calls similar to loud purrs. The female lays 4-35 thousand eggs in one season. There is no concern for fertilized and laid eggs. Incubation lasts from 2 to 7 days. Both the eggs and the tadpoles of the aga are poisonous to most animals and to humans. After metamorphosis, this feature disappears in them until the development of the parotid glands.

I

Yeah poisonous to everyone life stages. When an adult toad is disturbed, its glands secrete a milky-white secretion containing bufotoxins; she is even able to “shoot” them at a predator. Agi poison - potent; predominantly affect the heart nervous system, causing profuse salivation, convulsions, vomiting, arrhythmia, increased blood pressure, sometimes temporary paralysis and death from cardiac arrest. For poisoning, simple contact with poisonous glands is sufficient. The poison penetrated through the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and mouth causes severe pain, inflammation and temporary blindness. Secretions from the skin glands of the agi are traditionally used by the people of South America to wet arrowheads. The Choco Indians of western Colombia milked poisonous toads by placing them in bamboo tubes hung over a fire, then collected the excreted yellow poison in a ceramic dish.

Significance for a person

Yeah, it is also known by other names, for example, "cane toad"

They tried to breed toads to exterminate pests on sugarcane and sweet potato plantations, as a result of which they widely settled outside their natural range and turned into pests themselves, causing poisoning of local predators that are not immune to their poison, and compete for food with local amphibians.

Aga toads in Australia

101 toads were brought to Australia from Hawaii in June to control sugar cane pests. In captivity, they managed to breed, and in August, more than 3,000 young toads were released on a plantation in northern Queensland. Aghas turned out to be ineffective against pests (because they found other prey for themselves), but they quickly began to increase their numbers and spread, reaching the border of New South Wales in the city, and the Northern Territory in the city. At present, the distribution boundary of this species in Australia is shifting south and west by 25 km every year.

Agi is currently providing negative impact on the fauna of Australia, eating, displacing and causing poisoning of native animals. Its victims are local species of amphibians and lizards and small marsupials, including those belonging to rare species. The spread of aga is associated with a decrease in the number of marsupial martens, as well as large lizards and snakes (deadly and tiger snakes, black echidna). They also destroy apiaries, destroying honey bees. At the same time, a number of species successfully prey on these toads, including the New Guinea crow and black kite. Methods for combating agamas have not yet been developed.

Links

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See what "Toad aga" is in other dictionaries:

    This article is about the animal. For the king of ancient Kish, see Aga (King of Kish). ? Yeah Scientific classification Kingdom: Animals ... Wikipedia

    Aga: Toponym Aga is a river in Transbaikalia. Yeah, a village at the station in the Trans-Baikal Territory, formerly the village of Khila. Aga is a city in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Aga river on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. Aga river in Latvia, right tributary ... ... Wikipedia

    This term has other meanings, see Aha. ? Yeah ... Wikipedia

    Midwife, toad, ugly, angina pectoris, tonsillitis, freak, muzzle, cuttlefish, kikimora, yeah, monster, baba yaga, tonsillitis Dictionary of Russian synonyms. toad, see angina Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian language. Z.E.… … Synonym dictionary

    Ege, yes, so, of course, okay, of course, uh-huh, definitely, undoubtedly; ah, ah, ba, ah! Dictionary of Russian synonyms. yeah see yes Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian language. Z. E. Alexandrova. 2011 ... Synonym dictionary

    I ag am. 1. The title of military commanders and chiefs of some groups of court servants (in Sultan's Turkey). 2. Used as a form courtesy sometimes in combination with a name for an older or respected person (in Transcaucasia, Central Asia, A… … Modern Dictionary Russian language Efremova

    I ag am. 1. The title of military commanders and chiefs of some groups of court servants (in Sultan's Turkey). 2. Used as a form of polite address, sometimes in combination with a name for an older or respected person (in Transcaucasia, Central Asia, and ... ... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Efremova

    I ag am. 1. The title of military commanders and chiefs of some groups of court servants (in Sultan's Turkey). 2. Used as a form of polite address, sometimes in combination with a name for an older or respected person (in Transcaucasia, Central Asia, and ... ... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Efremova

    I ag am. 1. The title of military commanders and chiefs of some groups of court servants (in Sultan's Turkey). 2. Used as a form of polite address, sometimes in combination with a name for an older or respected person (in Transcaucasia, Central Asia, and ... ... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Efremova

toad yeah ( Bufo marinus) - one of the most poisonous animals on the planet, belongs to the amphibian class, tailless order, real family, toad genus. In another way, it is called cane toad. There are no subspecies of this toad.

Toad aga - description, characteristics and photos

The size of the amphibian is really impressive: the toad sometimes weighs more than 1 kg, the body length is on average about 16 cm, although in rare cases it can reach 20 cm. Interestingly, female individuals are larger than male ones. Only one type of toad can compete with the aga in size - this is the largest Blomberg toad on the planet ( Bufo blombergi).

You can’t call this amphibian cute: the back of the poisonous toad aga is gray or rich brown, covered with large dark spots. The abdomen is yellowish and also covered with dark spots, but smaller. The skin is warty and strongly keratinized.

Horizontally located pupils are a consequence of the nocturnal lifestyle of the aga toad. Like other toad species, the aga has webbed feet.

Where does the toad live? On what continent?

The birthplace of the poisonous toad aga is South and Central America, habitat - from the Rio Grande, flowing in Texas, to northeastern Peru and the Amazonian lowland. The amphibian cannot stand the cold, therefore all habitats of the aga toad, both natural and newly acquired, are located in tropical and temperate climate zones. Artificially, the aga toad was introduced to a number of other countries and regions: Australia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, some Caribbean and Pacific islands. This was done so that the poisonous toad exterminated agricultural pests. However poisonous properties this amphibian aggressor was underestimated: in addition to pests, both native species of amphibians and domestic animals suffered from the poison of the toad aga.

poison toad agi

The behind-the-ear glands that produce the famous aga toad venom are located on the back of the skull. In addition, there are many tiny poisonous glands on the skin of the back and head. or, bitten by a cane toad, die instantly. It is also dangerous for humans: the deadly poison of the toad agi can penetrate the body, even if the amphibian is simply taken with your hands. Feeling threatened, the aga immediately shoots poison at the enemy.

What does a toad eat?

From many other species of toads that feed mainly on insects, the poisonous agu toad is distinguished by its omnivorous nature. Going hunting at night, this predatory amphibian, thanks to its poison, kills and eats not only various insects and worms, but also small rodents, for example, as well as birds, other toads and. If necessary, the cane toad can also be content with carrion.

Toad aga - the most famous poisonous species South and Central America. Frogs are one of the most common animals on our planet, there are more than 2,500 species of these amphibians. They are found on every continent except Antarctica. Although no one knows what scientists will eventually be able to find under many kilometers of ice.

Description

The diversity of these animals is amazing. They differ in color, size, toxicity, can live in water and in the desert. Each species is unique in its own way. The toad has its own characteristics, too. The description will give an idea of ​​what kind of amphibian it is.

  • The skin of young animals is smooth, in adults it is rough and keratinized, covered with poisonous skin glands and warts.
  • The body is heavy, with a noticeable abdomen. Paws muscular short, covered with sharp warty growths. Webbing is only on the hind legs. In sexually mature males, nuptial calluses are clearly visible on the limbs, which help them to hold tightly on the female during mating.
  • Bone black crests are clearly visible on the head, more pointed in males. Pass along the line from the nostrils to the eyes. On the sides of the head are large paired parotid glands (paratoids) that produce poison. Toads of this species differ in the shape of the head and the presence of eardrum. Bone protrusions of a semicircular shape are located clearly above the upper eyelid. The mouth is wide, which allows you to swallow quite big booty.
  • The aga toad (Bufo marinus) is second in size only to one species of its own kind - Bufo blombergi (Blomberg's toad). Individuals grow up to 25 cm in length and up to 12 cm in width, weight can exceed 2 kg. The average size up to 15 cm, body weight within 1 kg. Males are smaller than females. An individual with a live weight of 2.6 kg and a body length of 38 cm is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
  • Well-developed lungs allow them to safely do without water. Tolerates direct sunlight well.
  • Life span in wild nature is no more than 10 years. Leads a mostly solitary nocturnal lifestyle. Goes hunting at dusk. Juveniles are active during the day.

This is one of the ugliest toads on Earth. It defends itself from its enemies with poison, which can shoot at a distance of up to 1.5 meters and is very targeted. When meeting with a potential threat, the toad inflates and rises on its paws, noticeably increasing in size.

Habitat

It is native to South and Central America. The Rio Grande River (Texas, USA) serves as the northern border. In the south, toads settled down to the Amazonian lowland and northeastern Peru. Toads are able to live at temperatures from +5 0 to +40 0 C in tropical and temperate climate, at an altitude of up to 1600 meters above sea level.

Today, agu can be found in Australia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Caribbean and Pacific Islands (Hawaii, Fiji), China, Japan (Ogasawara, Ryukyu). This is due to the fact that they tried to use toads as biological weapons in the control of agricultural pests on cane plantations.

The toad aga (its photo can be seen in the article) prefers dry soils. During periods of molting and breeding, it seeks more moist areas. Animals live in woodlands and shrubs, evergreen tropical and subtropical hardwood forests. Floodplains of rivers, shores of lakes and reclamation ditches, mangroves are quite suitable for the life of amphibians. Individuals are found on sea coasts, in estuaries with low salinity, so they have another name Bufo marinus - sea toad.

reproduction

Sexual maturity occurs at 1-1.5 years. rainy season (for different continents its terms) creates a favorable environment, moist and warm. It is at this time that the marriage period begins. Under favorable conditions, there is no clearly defined breeding season. Animals are able to reproduce all year round.

The male calls the female with a peculiar singing. Before fertilizing the eggs, the male can “ride” on the back of a girlfriend for up to 2 weeks. Toad aga lays from 4,000 to 35,000 eggs in the form of a long (up to 20 m) cord. Selects water bodies slow flow and clean clear water. After spawning, parents do not show any concern for future offspring.

Nutrition

The poisonous toad, yeah, stands out for another feature. These animals are practically omnivores. Anything that can fit in their huge mouth is good food. They go hunting with the onset of darkness, react to the movement of prey, and find a motionless victim with the help of smell.

The main diet is insects, including honey bees. They hunt amphibians, small vertebrates: chicks, lizards, small rodents. On the sea coast they eat jellyfish and crabs. Toads can eat carrion. Lack of food provokes cannibalism.

  • equipment of a point of local daytime heating, to provide a temperature of +25 0 C ... +28 0 C during the day, and +22 0 C ... 24 0 C - at night;
  • the presence of a swimming pool, the water in which is changed daily;
  • deep and soft soil - toads prefer to burrow into loose soil during daylight hours.

The composition of the bedding may vary. Usually they use pure peat or peat mixed with sand, fallen leaves, moss, coconut chips, fresh earth.

They feed crickets, molluscs, worms, cockroaches, newborn mice, small rodents, chickens. It is recommended to introduce vitamins, vegetables, feed additives rich in calcium into the diet.

I

The toad is capable of producing poison containing 14 chemical substances. The lethal combination primarily affects the heart and nervous system. The manifestation of poisoning is profuse uncontrolled salivation, arrhythmia, vomiting, increased blood pressure, convulsions, paralysis. Death comes from cardiac arrest.

People have known about the properties of poison since time immemorial. It has been used for various purposes:

  • in Japan it was used as an aphrodisiac and as a cure for hair loss;
  • South American Indians lubricated hunting arrowheads and spears;
  • priests used it (in small doses) as drug;
  • the Chinese sought to lower the heart rate, which is important during heart surgery;
  • voodoo sorcerers used poison for zombies.

Toad-aga (also called cane or sea toad) is not only one of the largest, but also one of the most poisonous toads - its poison is life-threatening. Perhaps it is precisely this danger that attracts fans to keep something exotic and risky at home.

Habitat

The birthplace of the toad-aga is Central and South America, but today it is also found in Australia, where it was introduced to control agricultural pests. In addition, the animal was brought to Papua New Guinea, Philippines, on caribbean, as well as the Japanese islands of Ryukyu and Ogasawara.

Yeah, it lives mainly on dry soils, and before the onset of molting and during the breeding season, it looks for itself wet places. She does not particularly need water, since her rough skin has adapted to endure direct sunlight. In addition, the toad-aga has the most developed body respiration among all amphibians.

Unlike other amphibians, the aga is also found in the brackish waters of the mouths of rivers along the coast and on the islands. Hence its Latin name (Bufo marinus), which translates as sea toad. However, in water with a salinity of more than 15 ppm, agi quickly die.

Appearance

The body length of the aga is on average 15 cm with a weight of just over one kilogram. But there are especially large specimens of more than 25 cm in length and weighing more than 2 kilograms.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest toad-aga had a body length of 38 cm and weighed 2.6 kg. She lived with a Swedish amphibian lover.

The color of the aga is not bright - dark brown or light gray with dark spots. On the head from the eyes to the nostrils are black bone crests. The pupils of the eyes are horizontal, as in all nocturnal species. The venom-producing glands are located on the sides of the head.

The body of the toad is heavy with short strong legs. In young individuals, the skin is smooth and dark, in some - with a red tint. The skin of adult toads is strongly keratinized, the back and legs are covered with prickly warts.

Females are larger than males, their skin is smoother.

The poisonousness of the toad-aga

Known for its virulence. Its venom can be deadly. So, a dog that grabs an amphibian with its mouth immediately dies.

The poisonous secret is produced by large glands located at the back of the skull. In addition, there are many tiny poisonous glands on the scalp and back.

The poison is dangerous not only when it enters the bloodstream through a wound or mucous membranes, but is also able to penetrate the body even through healthy, intact skin.

For humans, not only adult toads are dangerous, but also small tadpoles. There is evidence that people died by eating soup, which accidentally got caviar toads.

Agha toad venom is a lethal mixture of 14 chemicals. These substances act on the heart and nervous system, increase blood pressure, cause convulsions and death.

Yep, local disaster.

It leads a ha nocturnal lifestyle, and during the day it prefers to sit out in shelters.

The giant toad is ready to eat almost everything, as long as it fits in its mouth: insects, worms, spiders, lizards, snakes, small mammals and will not even refuse to try household waste.

From predators, the aga is protected by poison, which can splash at a distance of up to two meters. For the attacker, this often ends badly: even crocodiles die after eating a toad-aga! If a toad aga collides with a snake, it swells up, becoming much larger.

Agi toads have been known to be ravenous since time immemorial. omnivorous predators, eating not only insects, but also any other animals that they are able to swallow. These qualities influenced their choice as a natural way to control the cane beetle, from which the Australian sugar industry suffered significant losses. But from a biological means of combating pests of agricultural crops, the aga toad has turned into a real disaster, an "ecological nightmare", a biological weapon aimed at destroying the Australian fauna.

Introduced to sugarcane plantations in the Northern Territory in 1935, toads began to spread in all directions at a speed of 40-60 km per year. So in 2009, Aghas crossed the border between the Northern Territory and Western Australia, at a distance of more than 2 thousand km from the place where they were released 74 years ago.

A similar picture is observed everywhere, and their number, according to rough estimates, is estimated at 200 million. The fact is that the aga toad emits a very strong poison, defending itself from animals attacking it. Aboriginal predators often die at the first meeting with Agami, because. the poison secreted by the toad during defense is enough to kill not only a large bird, a snake, a large monitor lizard, a dingo, but also an adult crocodile. 75 species of animals were studied: both species of crocodiles, 14 species of turtles, 37 of 63 species of agamas, 22 of 26 species of monitor lizards. As it turned out, 34 of the 75 species studied are in danger due to the appearance of toads: their number is declining.

Australian environmentalists believe that the only way out of this depressing situation is to artificially familiarize aboriginal predators with toad venom. In places where uncontrollably advancing amphibians should soon appear, scattering baits from agi meat with a small amount of poison in the habitats of predators, it was possible to achieve the expected results: "taught" predators, grabbing toads, and feeling the familiar taste of poison, spat out dangerous prey.

In addition to the fact that toads threaten predators, they themselves devour a variety of medium-sized animals. Native amphibians disappear in those places where toads appear, not only because they become the prey of the latter, but because this amphibian is extremely prolific. In one season, the female lays more than 40,000 eggs, from which small tadpoles come out. Tadpoles are more active, as a result of which, in some water bodies, even one adult frog does not grow from all the eggs laid by native amphibians.

In Australia, the aga toad does not have natural enemies. And although people hunt it, the number of these animals is growing.

reproduction

Both males and females puberty comes to 1 - 1.5 years. mating season coincides with the rainy season (lasts from June to October). And in Florida, due to the mild climate, the seasonality of breeding is not observed, and amphibians breed throughout the year. In Australia, the breeding season is from September to March.

Males call females with peculiar mating songs, something similar to the purring of a cat. The female is able to lay up to 35-40 thousand eggs and after 3-7 days small black tadpoles appear.

Keeping a toad-aga at home

The soil is hygroscopic: coconut crumb, sphagnum, fine fraction of the bark. Since the Aghas like to burrow into the ground, shelters are not necessary for them.

The terrarium is equipped with local heating (a downward-facing incandescent lamp or a mirror lamp, a thermal cord or a thermal mat). Toads withstand a fairly wide range of temperatures, but the optimum temperature for them is 24-26 ° C (at the heating point - 30-32 ° C). Temperatures can drop to 20°C at night.

Agam is not needed high level humidity, however, in the evening, the humidity can be slightly increased by spraying.

Agi and bathe with pleasure every evening, so a spacious bathing place is needed in the terrarium, which is placed in the very dark corner. The bath water is changed every day.

It is recommended to decorate the terrarium with snags, large pieces of bark, ceramic pots. It is possible to decorate with artificial or live plants (bromeliads, orchids, philodendrons, scindapsus, ivy, small ficuses, tradescantia). Toads are strong animals and like to dig in the ground, so only potted strong plants should be used for the terrarium. It is useless to plant plants in the ground, toads will dig them.

In food, toads are picky and extremely voracious. At home, an adult aga is fed with insects (crickets, fodder cockroaches, moths, locusts, etc.) and newborns and pubescent mice.

Agha needs to be given vitamins and calcium, sprinkling them on food.

The diet of tadpoles consists of various algae, protozoa, rotifers, crustaceans, small invertebrates (daphnia, brine shrimp, cyclops), plant suspensions.

Small toads no larger than 1 cm are fed with Drosophila, recently hatched crickets, and small bloodworms. As they grow older, crickets, Madagascar cockroaches, worms, mollusks, and naked mice are added to the diet.

Tadpoles and small toads are fed daily, adults - at least 1 time in 2 days. It is recommended to feed in the evening.

At home, the toad-aga can live up to 15 years, while in natural environment habitat rarely reaches 10.

Communication with an amphibian

Toads calmly relate to a person and are given in the hands. Although, perhaps, not everyone decides on such a “close” communication with a poisonous creature. Do not forget about the poisonous glands, pressing on which you can poison yourself with the produced poison.

Be aware that poison through the mucous membranes of the mouth or eyes causes people severe pain, inflammation, and temporary blindness. After contact with a poisonous pet, you should immediately wash your hands with soap and water.

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