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==Description==
According to worldwide media reports in late April 2005, numerous [[toad]]s in the [[Altona, Hamburg|Altona]] district of Hamburg were observed by nature protection officials to swell up with [[gas]]es and explode, propelling their innards for distances of up to one meter. These incidents prompted local residents to refer to the area's lake—home to the toads—as "Tümpel des Todes" (Pool of Death). The incidents were reported as occurring with greatest frequency between 2 and 3 a.m. Werner Smolnik, [[environmental movement]] worker, stated on [[April 26]], [[2005]] at least 1,000 toads had died in this manner over a series of a few days.
According to a [[witness]], "toads swell up to three-and-a-half times their normal size before blowing up". It is unlikely that a toad, however bluffy, could inhale and store so much [[air]].
==Explanations==
Berlin [[veterinarian]] Franz Mutschmann collected corpses and performed autopsies. From his work, it was determined that the phenomenon was linked to a recent influx of predatory [[crow]]s to the area. The cause was a mixture of crow attacks and the natural puff up defense of the toads. Crows attacked the toads to pick through the skin between the amphibian's chest and abdominal cavity, picking out the liver, which appears 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."
Previous explanations 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>{{cite news
Another opinion was that the eye witness accounts were flawed, confused, or mistaken.
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==Exploding amphibians in popular culture==
*In a story titled "[[The Frog and the Ox]]" of the [[Aesop's Fables]], a [[frog]], seeing an [[cattle|ox]] walking by, wanted to become as large and powerful as the ox. The poor frog filled itself full of air again and again. It exploded as a result.
*In the film ''[[Reflecting Skin]]'', two boys insert a drinking straw into a toad's cloaca and inflate it, leaving it on the side of a path.
▲*In the film ''[[Reflecting Skin]]'', two boys insert a drinking straw into a toad's cloaca and inflate it, leaving it on the side of a path. The first person to come by and see the poor suffering toad bends over to inspect it, only to have it explode all over them when the boys shoot it with a [[slingshot]].
*A widely-circulated [[urban legend]] claims that you can explode a toad by putting a [[cigarette]] in its mouth because toads inhale through their mouths but they exhale through their skin. If the air is too polluted this process cannot be completed and the gases continue to build up until they explode. This is not true: frogs and toads are [[amphibian]]s, and even though amphibian [[skin]] can perform [[gas exchange]], it is unrelated to [[lung]] [[expiration]] (see: [[buccal pumping]]). Even if the frog or toad keeps performing non-stop [[inhalation]], which is impossible anyway, the air would not build up in its body and cause it to explode.
*The experimental music group [[Coil (band)|Coil]] wrote a song called "Omlagus Garfungiloops" that features a voice sample saying "Have you been exploding frogs again?". The title of the song is based on taking the above voice sample and playing parts of it backwards to achieve a strange non-language.
*In the Playstation game ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', Malak sends a toad to give Ramza a message. The toad explodes and startles Ramza after it stops talking.
*In the background of the game ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', one of the many deadly creatures that inhabits the Death World of Catachan is the Great (and Lesser) Catachan Barking Toad, which when threatened, explodes into a cloud of toxins that kills all life in the immediate area, an area that can stretch for a kilometer, in the case of the Great Barking Toad.
▲*In the background of the game ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'', one of the many deadly creatures that inhabits the Death World of Catachan is the Great (and Lesser) Catachan Barking Toad, which when threatened, explodes into a cloud of toxins that kills all life in the immediate area, an area that can stretch for a kilometer, in the case of the Great Barking Toad.
*In the computer game [[Marathon 2: Durandal]] and subsequent titles, the assimilated BoBs, who try to kill the player by exploding, will sometimes yell "[[Marathon (computer game)#.22Frog blast the vent core.21.22|Frog blast the vent core!]]"
*In the [[DreamWorks SKG|DreamWorks]] animated feature film ''[[Shrek]]'', a toad (and a snake) are inflated as balloons by Shrek and Fiona. They do not explode, but as a result of Fiona's [[soprano|high-pitched singing]], a bird does.
*The game [[Thief 2]] includes Frogbeast Eggs as a weapon that Garrett, the main character, can use.
*In the [[2003]] comic book to film adaptation ''[[Hulk (film)|Hulk]]'', a failed experiment on regenerative healing causes a frog to explode.
▲*The game [[Thief 2]] includes Frogbeast Eggs as a weapon that Garrett, the main character, can use. They release small frogs, which hop towards the nearest person (possibly including Garrett himself) and explode.
▲*In the [[2003]] comic book to film adaptation ''[[Hulk (film)|Hulk]]'', a failed experiment on regenerative healing causes a frog to explode. This causes [[Bruce Banner]] to quip, "You want to go to the review board on Monday and tell them we have developed a brand new method for exploding frogs?"
*In a number of popular mods to the popular [[science fiction]] action game ''[[Half-Life (video game)|Half-Life]]'', one-eyed [[Chumtoad]]s that may explode and sometimes also spit poison are added as a monster type. Sometimes these are also usable as weapons in the same manner as the [[Snark (Half-Life)|Snark]].
*In the computer game [[Serious Sam]], froglike alien amphibians hop toward the player and explode on contact. Although individually weak and easily killed, these enemies often appear in large swarms.
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