Cane toads An unnatural history

Streaming video - 2014

Cane toads exposes one of the most bizarre biological blunders of all time. In 1935, in a strategic operation designed to save the nation's sugar cane crop from destruction by the greyback beetle, the Queensland Government imported a sackload of Bufo Marinus, the cane toad, from Hawaii. What the team of scientists failed to realise was that the beetle could fly while the cane toad couldn't! The mission was a failure. The cane toad adapted beautifully to its new environment, spread everywhere, ate everything and soon became a pest of plague proportions. Today bufo marinus is a common suburban sight. Cane toads is a humorous film which takes a close look at the different ways people have responded to living down among the toads. Pes...ts or pet, Queensland, if not Australia, is being overrun by these fat, slimy, ugly beasts. A Film Australia Production. © 2011 National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Executive Producer: Tristram Miall Director: Mark Lewis Writer: Mark Lewis DOP/Cinematographer: Jim Frazier, Wayne Taylor Featured People: Tip Byrne, Dr HW Kerr, RW (Reg) Mungomery, Dr Glen Ingram, Dr Bill Freeland, ES (Tom) Edgerton, Keith Chandler, Pat White, John Oakes, Patrick Cook, David Sondergard, Dr Rob Floyd, Elvie Grieg, Max Ackland, Brian Hawke, Dr Bob Endean, Dr Michael Archer, Bill Lane, Syd Churchill, Paul De Vine, Marie Roth, Monica Krauss, Bettina Dalton, Bill Hey, Brent Vincent. more