Toads are a symbol of prosperity and good fortune in Taiwan, but the unexpected discovery of an invasive species has officials and environmentalists scrambling to contain their spread.
With flashlights in hand and shielded by protective gloves, dozens of volunteers from the Taiwan Amphibian Conservation Society worked through the night searching rice fields and vegetable plots for their quarry — the cane toad.
There should be no reason for these large and highly toxic amphibians to exist in Caotun (草屯), a township in the foothills of the central mountain range.
Photo: Sui Chou, AFP
Cane toads are indigenous to South and Central America, and while they have wrought a famously destructive path through places like Australia and the Philippines, they had not been recorded in Taiwan.
That was until a few weeks ago when a local resident discovered some large amphibians hanging out in her community vegetable garden and uploaded a photograph online, a move that sparked an immediate toadhunt.
“A speedy and massive search operation is crucial when cane toads are first discovered,” Lin Chun-fu (林春富), an amphibian scientist at the government-run Endemic Species Research Institute said, as he explained why conservationists have since rushed to find and remove any cane toads.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
“Their size is very big and they have no natural enemies here in Taiwan,” he added.
Soon after the photo was uploaded, Yang Yi-ju (楊懿如), an expert at National Dong Hwa University, sent a group of volunteers from the Amphibian Conservation Society to investigate. They arrived at the vegetable garden and were shocked to find 27 toads in the immediate vicinity. She quickly identified the interlopers as Rhinella marina, thanks to the tell-tale large partoid glands behind the ears where cane toads secrete a dangerous poison.
“I was shocked and worried when they found more than 20. This is not going to be an easy thing to tackle,” she said.
“We began to notify and mobilize everyone to act,” she said, adding that the presence of juveniles showed the toads were breeding.
Cane toads are a dangerous invasive species for three key reasons. They are voracious predators, they are hugely successful at breeding and they are poisonous. That latter quality, a defense mechanism, is especially dangerous to dogs, which might lick or bite one.
Local farmers told conservationists they had noticed the arrival of these burly toads, but never reported it.
“Taiwanese farmers generally ignore toads and even look favorably at toads when they find them because they help rid the land of pests and are also a good luck symbol,” Yang said. “It never occurred to them that this is an invasive species from a foreign land.”
Conservation officials and environmental volunteers have been working non-stop to do a painstaking search.
“We have divided [the township] into 200 by 200 meters square grids to investigate one by one if there are marine toads present,” field researcher Lin Yong-lun said, pointing to a series of color-coded maps.
The search perimeter has since been expanded to a 4km radius.
So far, more than 200 marine toads of various sizes have been captured and housed at the Endemic Species Research Institute.
Cane toads are among the world’s “100 Invasive Alien Species” list compiled by the Invasive Species Specialist Group, an international advisory body of scientists and policy experts.
Also known as marine toads, their most common English name came from the fact that it was used in sugar plantations to hunt cane beetles. They were introduced into plantations in Australia, the Philippines, Japan, the Caribbean, as well as Florida and Hawaii, where they have caused damage to the local ecosystems.
Despite their warty appearance, toads are a symbol of wealth, longevity and good luck in Chinese culture. They are also used in Chinese medicine and their totems are common in feng shui to ward off bad luck.
“In store fronts you can find toad totems, drawings and even real live toads. It’s a symbol of fortune and good luck,” Lin said.
Until 2016 it was legal to import cane toads into Taiwan as pets, where they can fetch NT$3,000 to NT$4,000. Conservationists believe since imports were banned, people have started breeding cane toads locally and some have since escaped or been abandoned by their masters.
So far there have been no other reported sightings in Taiwan and Yang is cautiously optimistic about stopping the spread.
“Next spring during mating season is when we truly know for sure if we have contained it,” she said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan