Unbelievable Toxic 'Toadzilla' May Be Biggest Ever Found

An enormous "toadzilla" cane toad, one of the world's most invasive species, has been discovered sitting by the side of a forest track in Australia.

The massive amphibian, later found to weigh a whopping 5.95 pounds, was found in Conway National Park, in Queensland.

"I reached down and grabbed the cane toad and couldn't believe how big and heavy it was," park ranger Kylee Gray, who had stopped to let a snake cross the track when she saw the huge toad at the side of the path, said in a statement.

"We dubbed it Toadzilla, and quickly put it into a container so we could remove it from the wild."

This gargantuan specimen may have broken the world record for the largest toad ever found: The current Guinness World Record holder weighed in at 2.65 kilograms (5.84 pounds) in 1991.

The cane toad was not a welcome sight for the park ranger, however, because the species is regarded as a pest.

According to the statement from the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, the toad was subsequently "humanely euthanized".

Cane toads, originally native to Central and South America, were introduced to Australia in 1935 in an attempt to control the population of cane beetles destroying Queensland's cane crops. Around 2,000 toads were brought to the country, but despite their rapid increase in population, they failed to control the cane beetle problem. Instead, the cane toad itself became to be considered an invasive and feral species, with their population now surpassing 200 million.

The cane toad is considered such a problem due to their impact on other native wildlife. The toads themselves are toxic, meaning that native predators and even domestic pets can be killed if they bite or lick the toads.

In some cases, local populations of predators such as the yellow-spotted monitor, a kind of lizard, dropped by up to 90 percent after their habitat was invaded by cane toads. Not only that, but the toads outcompete native species for food and breeding habitats, as they reproduce at much higher rates than some native species. Females produce up to 30,000 eggs in a single season.

"A cane toad that size will eat anything it can fit into its mouth, and that includes insects, reptiles and small mammals," Gray said, regarding the potentially record-breaking toad.

Based on its size, the rangers think that the toad is a female: females tend to grow larger than the males.

"She was found at an elevation of 393 meters [1,289 feet], which isn't unusual, but she has created a lot of interest among our ranger staff due to her size. I'm not sure how old she is, but cane toads can live up to 15 years in the wild—so this one has been around a long time. We're pleased to have removed her from the national park," Gray said.

The toad may now be relocated to the Queensland Museum, where it will be officially weighed. If its weight is confirmed, this toad may indeed be the largest toad ever found.

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