Cane toads captured hitching a ride -- and trying for more -- on Australian python
By Katherine Lam | Fox News
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He's just not that into you.
An Australian couple encountered a strange sight when they spotted a dozen venomous cane toads appearing to hitch a ride on the back of an 11.5-foot python. But the pair soon found out they'd accidentally stumbled upon an Outback orgy — or, an attempted one.
Paul and Anne Mock were at their home in Kununurra, a town in Western Australia, when they spotted the toads on what they thought was a “python express” on Sunday. The couple told Guardian Australia the town had just experienced heavy rainfall that filled their dam and “the lake was so full it had filled the cane toad burrows around the bank and they were all sitting on top of the grass – thousands of them."
Paul Mock said he spotted Monty, the large python that lived on the residence, slithering toward him in an attempt to flee the water
“He was in the middle of the lawn, making for higher ground,” Paul Mock said. “He was literally moving across the grass at full speed with the frogs hanging on.”
Paul Mock’s brother, Andrew, then snapped a photo of the 10 toads on the python and posted it on social media, prompting amusement followed by shock.
“68mm just fell in the last hour at Kununurra. Flushed all the cane toads out of my brothers dam. Some of them took the easy way out - hitching a ride on the back of a 3.5m python,” Andrew tweeted in a post that garnered more than 9,000 likes and hundreds of replies.
“A metaphor for the relationship between public transportation and the tech industry,” one person responded.
“Good idea: Riding public transit to eliminate carbon footprints. Better idea: Riding something that leaves behind no footprints,” another user wrote.
One person tweeted, “Bloody hell. Stuff of nightmares.”
However, Jodi Rowley, a senior lecturer in biological sciences at the University of New South Wales and amphibian expert, gave a more thorough explanation Monday of what exactly was occurring — and it was not "PG."
“This is one of the most amazing videos I've seen!! Lots of *very* horny Cane #Toads (Rhinella marina) trying to mate with a large Olive #Python (Liasis olivaceus), with Giant Burrowing Frogs (Cyclorana australis) & Red Tree #Frogs (Litoria rubella) calling in the background!” Rowley explained on Twitter.
Rowley also posted a picture of a past incident when another indiscriminate cane toad was “trying to mate with a rotting mango” in North Queensland.
Cane toads are pests in Australia — to humans, pythons and mangos, evidently — and known to damage ecosystems. Millions of the venomous amphibians have been invading communities, leading the government to ask residents to collect and dispose of them, according to the National Geographic.
Cane toads captured hitching a ride -- and trying for more -- on Australian python | Fox News
By Katherine Lam | Fox News
Continue Reading Below
He's just not that into you.
An Australian couple encountered a strange sight when they spotted a dozen venomous cane toads appearing to hitch a ride on the back of an 11.5-foot python. But the pair soon found out they'd accidentally stumbled upon an Outback orgy — or, an attempted one.
Paul and Anne Mock were at their home in Kununurra, a town in Western Australia, when they spotted the toads on what they thought was a “python express” on Sunday. The couple told Guardian Australia the town had just experienced heavy rainfall that filled their dam and “the lake was so full it had filled the cane toad burrows around the bank and they were all sitting on top of the grass – thousands of them."
Paul Mock said he spotted Monty, the large python that lived on the residence, slithering toward him in an attempt to flee the water
“He was in the middle of the lawn, making for higher ground,” Paul Mock said. “He was literally moving across the grass at full speed with the frogs hanging on.”
Paul Mock’s brother, Andrew, then snapped a photo of the 10 toads on the python and posted it on social media, prompting amusement followed by shock.
“68mm just fell in the last hour at Kununurra. Flushed all the cane toads out of my brothers dam. Some of them took the easy way out - hitching a ride on the back of a 3.5m python,” Andrew tweeted in a post that garnered more than 9,000 likes and hundreds of replies.
“A metaphor for the relationship between public transportation and the tech industry,” one person responded.
“Good idea: Riding public transit to eliminate carbon footprints. Better idea: Riding something that leaves behind no footprints,” another user wrote.
One person tweeted, “Bloody hell. Stuff of nightmares.”
However, Jodi Rowley, a senior lecturer in biological sciences at the University of New South Wales and amphibian expert, gave a more thorough explanation Monday of what exactly was occurring — and it was not "PG."
“This is one of the most amazing videos I've seen!! Lots of *very* horny Cane #Toads (Rhinella marina) trying to mate with a large Olive #Python (Liasis olivaceus), with Giant Burrowing Frogs (Cyclorana australis) & Red Tree #Frogs (Litoria rubella) calling in the background!” Rowley explained on Twitter.
Rowley also posted a picture of a past incident when another indiscriminate cane toad was “trying to mate with a rotting mango” in North Queensland.
Cane toads are pests in Australia — to humans, pythons and mangos, evidently — and known to damage ecosystems. Millions of the venomous amphibians have been invading communities, leading the government to ask residents to collect and dispose of them, according to the National Geographic.
Cane toads captured hitching a ride -- and trying for more -- on Australian python | Fox News