Toads

Unless you're Australian, or have a long memory for short films, you've likely never heard of cane toads. But be prepared, they're coming at you. And in 3-D no less. "Cane Toads: The Conquest" had its world premiere at Sundance on Tuesday night before an audience that roared with delight at the amphibians' antics. The reception fulfilled the expectations of filmmaker Mark Lewis, who called it "just like 'Avatar,' except with toads." An Australian with a lively and playful sense of humor, Lewis has been to Sundance before, with the irreverent "The Natural History of the Chicken."

The future of a proposed multiuse development in the Santa Clarita Valley could rest partly on its relationship with some short-legged, bug-eyed amphibians. Toads, to be precise. Construction of Sterling Gateway, a 75-acre business park, won't be able to get underway until the developers fulfill at least one environmental requirement: Dedicate land where Western spadefoot toads can breed. Sterling's proposed business park in Valencia's Hasley Canyon just north of California 126 will complement the nearby construction of some 250 single-family homes the company also is planning.

On June 3 an article appeared concerning the scientific study of toads in the San Fernando Valley. Sadly, it includes the description of an experiment by two Cal State Northridge biologists who cut the eyes out of the toads just to find out if the toads would still find the way back to their pond. Times staff writer Doug Smith coldly reports, "Toads that had their eyes cut out could do just as well as healthy ones." (We take it for granted that all the specimens used to be healthy, until these so-called biologist got involved.

BlueToad, a digital publishing company in Florida, said a stolen list of 1 million Apple device IDs came from its computers, not the FBI's, as an Internet hacker group has claimed. Chief Executive Paul DeHart said Monday that BlueToad took a look at the stolen data that had been posted online, compared the data with the company's and found that there was a "significant match. " "At that point we knew conclusively that it was our data that'd been compromised," he said in a phone interview, adding that the company was the victim of a cyber attack a week and a half ago. DeHart said BlueToad develops apps for magazine, newspaper and book publishers.

Specifications of a 182,000-acre habitat for the arroyo toad were published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, ensuring protection for the endangered species in parts of eight Central and Southern California counties. Approval had been held up briefly by the Bush administration's review of last-minute federal actions taken during President Bill Clinton's tenure.

A government lawmaker advised people in northern Australia to bludgeon to death toxic toads that are advancing toward the region's main city, Darwin. Cane toads were imported from Central America in 1935 to control beetles on sugar cane plantations.

The future of a proposed multiuse development in the Santa Clarita Valley could rest partly on its relationship with some short-legged, bug-eyed amphibians. Toads, to be precise. Construction of Sterling Gateway, a 75-acre business park, won't be able to get underway until the developers fulfill at least one environmental requirement: Dedicate land where Western spadefoot toads can breed. Sterling's proposed business park in Valencia's Hasley Canyon just north of California 126 will complement the nearby construction of some 250 single-family homes the company also is planning.

Nearly 500,000 acres in California will be proposed as critical habitat for the endangered Southwestern arroyo toad by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday. The move could affect some of the most prominent development projects in the region, including the massive Newhall Ranch development, which would straddle the Santa Clara River in Los Angeles County, and the proposed 16-mile Foothill South toll road in southern Orange County.

Courting toads are getting military escorts on visits to their sweethearts in Czechoslovakia. Soldiers have built special tunnels and barriers across a busy highway in western Bohemia to help hundreds of male toads reach a pond inhabited by females, Rude Pravo newspaper said Saturday. Some soldiers have even carried the toads across the road. In the past, hundreds of the lusty toads have been crushed by traffic in the annual spring outing to the pond.

The removal of 25,000 cubic yards of sediment from the basin behind Devil's Gate Dam in Pasadena has been put on hold until August in order to prevent the destruction of a habitat for toads. Work was set to begin last week, but Pasadena officials decided to postpone the job pending further environmental review after Hahamongna Watershed Park users complained that Johnson Field, where the dirt was to be temporarily stored, was home to a large number of toads that would be smothered underneath the piles of dirt.

The removal of 25,000 cubic yards of sediment from the basin behind Devil's Gate Dam in Pasadena has been put on hold until August in order to prevent the destruction of a habitat for toads. Work was set to begin last week, but Pasadena officials decided to postpone the job pending further environmental review after Hahamongna Watershed Park users complained that Johnson Field, where the dirt was to be temporarily stored, was home to a large number of toads that would be smothered underneath the piles of dirt.

Around the world, frogs, salamanders and other amphibians are disappearing — and much about their demise has been a mystery. Now, in an episode of amphibian CSI, biologists have used decades-old museum samples of frogs, toads and salamanders to track the relentless path of a killer fungus across Mexico and Central America over the last 40 years. The findings, published online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, strongly link the amphibians' disappearance to the fungus and suggest that the disease was an alien invader rather than a native disease let loose by climate change.

Ever since its arrival in Australia, the poisonous cane toad has been killing native predators such as the northern quoll, a cat-sized marsupial. Now scientists have found a clever way to save the endangered quoll: training it to detest the taste of toad so it won't get poisoned. Brought to Queensland state in 1935 to control beetles in sugar cane fields, the cane toad is one of many Old World animals to wreak havoc on Australia's native ecosystem. Unlike most invasive species, however, the cane toad doesn't prey on native life, or compete with it for food.

Unless you're Australian, or have a long memory for short films, you've likely never heard of cane toads. But be prepared, they're coming at you. And in 3-D no less. "Cane Toads: The Conquest" had its world premiere at Sundance on Tuesday night before an audience that roared with delight at the amphibians' antics. The reception fulfilled the expectations of filmmaker Mark Lewis, who called it "just like 'Avatar,' except with toads." An Australian with a lively and playful sense of humor, Lewis has been to Sundance before, with the irreverent "The Natural History of the Chicken."

If soggy flower beds and slippery slopes are keeping you out of the garden, two new books can replace the urge to plant with the inspiration to plan. Garden photographer and Home section contributor Debra Lee Baldwin takes on common design questions in her new book, "Succulent Container Gardens." Which plants? With which pots? For which spots on the patio, balcony or deck? Baldwin's book ($29.95 from Timber Press) delivers ideas, including a chapter on unusual succulent arrangements in unconventional containers.

Even before it opens later this week, Disney's new animated feature, "The Princess and the Frog," is already considered something of a cultural and animation landmark. After centering cartoons on a Middle Easterner ("Aladdin"), a Native American (" Pocahontas"), an Asian ("Mulan"), and a Hawaiian ("Lilo & Stitch"), Disney animation has entered the post-racial era. The new film features a black protagonist alongside the green one. It has been a long time coming, but it is an event that, if you believe Disney detractors, would have old Walt spinning in his grave (or his cryogenic chamber)

A conservation group concerned about the mass slaughter of toads by motorists is building tunnels under a busy road to give toads safe passage during their annual journey to ponds where they mate and spawn. The Fauna and Flora Preservation Society said Sunday it is working with a concrete manufacturer to build the tunnels under a main road west of London near Henley-on-Thames in a pioneering $1,500 project.

The U.S. Forest Service announced Monday that it intends to reopen a motorcycle trail through a remote stream bed, despite biologists' warnings that the cycles could wipe out the local population of the fragile arroyo toad. The world's largest population of the tiny toad, which is a candidate for the federal endangered species list, is found where the popular Snowy Trail crosses Piru Creek in Los Padres National Forest in northeastern Ventura County.

Residents of five communities in Queensland took part in the inaugural Toad Day Out event, killing thousands of poisonous cane toads amid a festive mood. The toads can grow as long as 8 inches. They were imported from South America to Queensland in 1935 in a failed attempt to control beetles on sugar cane plantations. But the toads couldn't jump high enough to eat the beetles, which live on top of cane stalks. The toads bred rapidly, and they now threaten many local species. They spread diseases, such as salmonella, and produce highly toxic venom.