Even after research identifies new approaches for wildlife management, translating those methods for delivery can be logistically challenging. In tropical Australia, invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina) fatally poison many anuran-eating native predators. Small-scale trials show that vulnerable predators exposed to small (nonlethal) toads can learn to delete toads from their diets, increasing survival of those predators after toads invade. We deployed this method in the remote Kimberley region of tropical Australia, with >200,000 eggs, tadpoles, or metamorph toads released in advance of the expanding toad invasion front. Remote camera surveys before and after “teacher toad” deployment showed that large monitor lizards (Varanus panoptes) were almost extirpated from control plots but remained abundant in treatment plots, indicating broad-scale success of this novel intervention.

中文翻译：

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老师蟾蜍：在偏远的热带地区缓冲顶级捕食者免受有毒入侵者的侵害


即使研究确定了野生动物管理的新方法，将这些方法转化为交付在后勤上也可能具有挑战性。在澳大利亚热带地区，入侵的甘蔗蟾蜍（Rhinella marina）毒害了许多以无神论者为食​​的本地掠食者。小规模试验表明，接触小型（非致命性）蟾蜍的脆弱捕食者可以学会将蟾蜍从其饮食中删除，从而提高这些捕食者在蟾蜍入侵后的生存率。我们在澳大利亚热带偏远的金伯利地区部署了这种方法，在蟾蜍入侵前沿扩大之前释放了超过 200,000 个卵、蝌蚪或变态蟾蜍。 “蟾蜍老师”部署前后的远程摄像机调查显示，大型巨蜥（Varanus panoptes）几乎从对照地块中灭绝，但在处理地块中仍然大量存在，表明这种新颖的干预措施取得了广泛的成功。