The Cane Toad Programme and the Beetles It Missed
A species flourished in a new land, and some called that a success. The beetles it was brought to fight tell another story.
Cane toads were released in Queensland in 1935 to control the beetles that were damaging the sugar cane crops of the region. Some defenders of the programme later argued that it had succeeded, since the toads bred quickly, thrived in their new habitat, and spread across much of northern Australia within a few decades.
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