Something is Rotten in Denmark

I missed the phenomenon when it started in Germany. Hamburg, to be exact. It seems that Germany has had over 1,000 toads simply explode, and now the toads in Denmark are exploding too. Here's the full story.

This isn't a case of animal cruelty, the way you might expect. No teenagers coming during the night and planting explosives inside the toads. No toad-seeking mini-missiles. According to the story, "Experts are at a loss to explain what is causing the toads' painful deaths, which primarily take place between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m."

"[T]he toads climb on to land, swell to up to three times their normal size, and burst, casting their innards up to one meter in the air, the Coppenhagen Post reports."

The experts, including curator of Denmark's Museum of Natural History, Frank Jensen, expect the cause to be something earthly, like the ozone hole or toxins in the environment. They point out that amphibians are especially susceptible to subtle changes in their habitat.

Let's hope they figure this one out before it spreads any more.

Update:

It looks as though they have figured this out already! Is it toxins? The ozone hole allowing too much ultraviolet radiation to get through? Some other environmental disaster caused by Evil Big Business ruthlessly raping the toads' ecosystem?

No!

It's crows. They've developed a taste for toad liver (full story here). "Based on the wounds, Mutschmann said, it appears that a bird pecks into the toad with its beak between the amphibian's chest and abdominal cavity, and the toad puffs itself up as a natural defense mechanism." Mutschmann is Frank Mutschmann, a Berlin veterinarian. "But, because the liver is missing and there's a hole in the toad's body, the blood vessels and lungs burst and the other organs ooze out, he said."

"Hamburg's Institute for Hygiene and the Environment regularly tests water quality in the city, and found no evidence that the toads were diseased. The institute even ruled out that the toads were suffering because of a fungus brought in from South America."

Still the Institute isn't ready to accept the crow theory just yet. Not until they've actually observed it. If there are more developments, I'll be sure to post them.