The Relationship between the cane toads
jump and physical attributes Lucia year 11 student Brigidine St Ives
Inquiry Question: How does the cane toads’ structural characteristics affect its movement
Hypothesis: I hypothesis that if the length of the toad's femur is longer then it will lengthen the stretch of its jump.
Results and outcomes
Background information
Cane toads are an introduced species in Australia. Cane toads
were initially introduced to Australia to fix the beetle Figure 2 illustrates the link between the cane toad's femur
infestations sugar cane farmers in Queensland were plagued and jump lengths. As femur length increases, jump length
with but would later become invasive themselves. Cane toads correspondingly increases.
have no natural predators, which has led their population to
grow enormously. Over 200 million cane toads have been
recorded in Australia, primarily on the upper east coast of
Figure 2.
Australia, and it is expected to continue to rise. Cane toads are
highly adaptive and adapted to numerous aspects of the
Australian environment. A study observed that cane toads had
expanded their range of invasion by approximately 10km a year
during the 1940s and 60s. Now cane toads are invading new
areas at an advanced rate of over 50km a year. One explanation
for this adaption has been observed recently. It has been found
that the newer generations of cane toads in Australia have
grown to have longer femurs. These toads have been noticed to
perform with a higher endurance by travelling approximately
half a kilometre further in three days than any toads from older
generations.
Discussion
The observations found during the investigation note that when the
Method of collection of data cane toad’s femur length increases, the toad’s jump length increases
The primary data collection process involved obtaining correspondingly. The analysis found increased jump length among
measurements from a cane toad's body and performing a toads with longer femur lengths. The results confirm the hypothesis
dissection. The initial step was weighing the toad, followed by as the cane toad’s movement is affected by the size of its anatomy.
taking various measurements using a vernier calliper. These Further research can be conducted on other features of the cane
measurements included snout-to-vent length and foot length, toad’s anatomy to investigate other potential physical attributes
among others. For the dissection, the cane toad was pinned that may influence the toad’s physical abilities. The results infer that
stomach facing upwards. The organs were examined and the cane toad’s movement is affected by structural adaptations, as
removed from the cane toad to investigate further. The femur length has an impact on the toad’s locomotion in that long
secondary data was collected from Hudson, Cameron & Vidal- femurs allow them to jump longer lengths, while shorter femurs
García, Marta & Murray, Trevor & Shine, and Richard. (2020). diminish their ability resulting in those cane toads jumping shorter
distances.
Figure 1. a dissected cane
toad
Figure 1. depicts a cane Bibliography and acknowledgments
toad in the process of being Ms Power – Science department Brigidine College
dissected
CANE TOAD MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK Acknowledgements
n.d., viewed 15 June 2023,<https://rangelandswa.com.au/wp-
content/uploads/2017/04/CaneToadMgnmtHandbookMay16.pdf
>.
Hudson, CM, Vidal-García, M, Murray, TG & Shine, R 2020,
‘The accelerating anuran: evolution of locomotor performance
in cane toads (Rhinella marina, Bufonidae) at an invasion front’,
Figure 1. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol.
287, no. 1938, p. 20201964.
Hudson_et_al._toad_locomotion_data.xlsx n.d., viewed 15
June 2023, <Hudson_et_al._toad_locomotion_data.xlsx>.
