Exploding animal: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:59, 16 January 2021

Revision as of 14:14, 19 April 2021

Line 26:

|agency =Associated press|publisher =nbcnews.com|date =2005-04-28| url =http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7654561/#.XJaNBIrPz-g|access-date = 2019-03-23}}</ref> According to German conservationist Werner Smolnik, the toads expanded to three and a half times their normal size before blowing up, and were noted to live a short time after exploding.<ref name=BBC>{{cite news|title =Mystery of German exploding toads|work =bbc.co.uk|publisher =BBC|date =2005-04-27|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4486247.stm|access-date=2018-12-05}}</ref>

Berlin [[Veterinary physician|veterinarian]] Franz Mutschmann collected toad corpses and performed [[necropsy|necropsies]]. He theorised that the phenomenon was linked to a recent influx of predatory [[crow]]s to the area. He stated that the cause was a mixture of crow attacks and the natural puff up defense of the toads. Crows attacked the toads in order to pick through the skin between the amphibianamphibians's chestchests and abdominal cavitycavities, picking out the livertoads' livers, which appearsappear to be a delicacy for crows in the area. In a defensive move, the toads begin to blow themselves up, which in turn, due to the hole in the toad's body and the missing liver, led to a rupture of blood vessels and lungs, and to the spreading of intestines. The apparent epidemic nature of the phenomenon was also explained by Mutschmann: "Crows are intelligent animals. They learn very quickly how to eat the toads' livers."<ref name=msnbc/>

Initial theories had included a [[virus|viral]] or [[fungus|fungal]] infection, possibly one also affecting foreign [[horse]]s involved in [[horse racing|racing]] at a nearby track. However, laboratory tests were unable to detect an infectious agent.<ref name=msnbc/>

== See also ==