Are you ready for the trip
of a lifetime?
Well, it seems some people are.
And they're getting a helping hand from the cane toad.
And the question on your mind is,
The cane toad comes from Central and South America,
and it's a very adaptable animal.
It can live in jungles, grasslands and even swamps.
So it's almost always at the top
of the invasive species list.
In Australia, it's causing all sorts of problems.
But we'll come back to that.
Cane toads produce a poison to help them
fend off predators.
It's a milky white substance secreted
from the glands on the back of their shoulders.
Some people have dried and burned the poison.
Inhaling the smoke
produces psychedelic experiences
many people have sought.
Even celebrities have talked about smoking the poison.
The hallucinogenic experience has been described
as life-changing
and a part of a spiritual journey.
Smokers see bright colors
and have out-of-body experiences.
But people aren't just smoking
the poison to get high.
The hallucinogenic experiences they have
seem to have benefits.
Scientists have described the hallucinogen's ability
to cause ego death, resetting or clearing their minds.
But it's not a New Age fad.
Consuming or inhaling cane toad poison
goes back as far as the Middle Ages.
And the practice doesn't seem to be waning
even though it's illegal in many countries.
The poison is called
after the scientific name of the toad, Bufo marinus.
Beautiful.
It contains Bufagin,
the fatal, heart-affecting component,
and the hallucinogens bufotenine and
And in case you were wondering.
No, it is not a scrabble word.
DMT is more widely known as a hallucinogen,
but 5-MeO-DMT
is an estimated four to six times more potent.
And research from 2018 suggests that
5-MeO-DMT affects nerve development in mice
and may help treat mental illnesses
like depression and anxiety.
But this is where the good news about the cane toad
ends.
It's enemy number one
to many conservation groups around the world.
The war on cane toads is heating up
as they now live in Florida, Hawaii, Australia,
the Philippines
and other countries we don't have time to name.
In 1935,
sugarcane farmers introduced them in Australia
to control cane beetles.
The original 2,400 cane toads
have become an astonishing
200 million.
Their poison has devastated ecosystems,
killing native species like monitor lizards, snakes
and even crocodiles.
They have been doing so well in these new habitats
that they're evolving a new behavior.
They started singing with banjos.
Just kidding.
Australian cane toads are resorting to cannibalism.
They are likely to eat each other's eggs
and hatchlings when given a chance.
This evolutionary arms race has triggered
cane toad offspring to mature quicker.
But all is not lost in this battle.
Scientists think they may have found a species to
take on the toads.
Enter the Australian predatory meat ants.
Cane toads can't detect or evade the ants
since they move slowly,
and their little legs can only hop short distances.
The ants are immune to the toads' poison.
Suckers.
So a group of ants could easily take down a small toad.
Introducing the meat ants in cane toad habitats
could prove a vital step in reducing
the skyrocketing cane toad population in Australia.
But Australia is not
the only place suffering from cane toads.
They've also taken over in Florida and more.
So why not check out
our Alligator VS Florida Man's Trash Can video?
It shan't disappoint.
They produce poison that's psychedelic if you smoke it,
and they're invading other parts of the world.
That's what cane toads do.
And that's what makes them Crazy Creatures.