[TimeStar] Liver-lovin' crows causing toads to pop? Vet says so.

[Terry]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002257021&zsection_id=2002107549&slug=toads29&date=20050429>

Liver-lovin' crows causing toads to pop? Vet says so.
By Matt Surman
The Associated Press
Friday, April 29, 2005, 12:00 a.m. Pacific

BERLIN: A German veterinarian thinks he knows what's making toads puff up
and explode in Northern Europe: Hungry crows are pecking out their livers.

More than 1,000 toad corpses have been found at a pond in an upscale
neighborhood in Hamburg and over the border in Denmark after bloating and
bursting. The pond water in Hamburg has been tested, but its quality is no
better or worse than elsewhere in the city. The toad remains have been
checked for a virus or bacterium, but none has been found.

"The crows are clever," said Frank Mutschmann, a Berlin veterinarian who
collected and tested specimens at the Hamburg pond. "They learn quickly from
watching other crows how to get the livers."

Based on the toads' wounds, Mutschmann said, it appears that a bird pecks
into the toad and the toad puffs up as a natural defense mechanism. 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.

As gruesome as it sounds, it isn't that unusual, he said. "It's not unique;
it's in a city area, and that makes it spectacular."

Another theory plays off the liver explanation. It holds that the wound
heals on surviving toads and gases build up inside the liverless creatures,
making them swell until they burst.

There have also been reports of exploded toads in a pond near Laasby in
central Jutland in Denmark.

Hamburg's Institute for Hygiene and the Environment regularly tests water
quality in the city and has found no evidence the toads were diseased. The
institute also ruled out a fungus brought in from South America.

Other theories have been that horses on a nearby track might have infected
the amphibians with a virus or that the toads are committing suicide to save
others from overpopulation.

Could hungry crows be a reasonable answer?

"We haven't seen that. It might be, it might not be", said institute
spokeswoman Janne Kloepper. "It's speculation", until it's observed, she
added.

Material from Knight Ridder Newspapers is included in this report.