German Scientists Puzzled By Exploding Toads - ENN

[hatrack]

BERLIN — "More than 1,000 toads have puffed up and exploded in a Hamburg pond in recent weeks, and German scientists still have no explanation for what's causing the combustion, an official said Wednesday.

Both the pond's water and body parts of the toads have been tested, but scientists have been unable to find a bacteria or virus that would cause the toads to swell up and pop, said Janne Kloepper, of the Hamburg-based Institute for Hygiene and the Environment.

"It's absolutely strange," she said. "We have a really unique story here in Hamburg. This phenomenon really doesn't seem to have appeared anywhere before." The toads at a pond in the upscale neighborhood of Altona have been blowing up since the beginning of the month, filling up like balloons until their stomachs suddenly burst.

"It looks like a scene from a science-fiction movie," Werner Schmolnik, the head of a local environment group, told the Hamburger Abendblatt daily. "The bloated animals suffer for several minutes before they finally die."

EDIT

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7619

[BeyondThePale]

1. Not just Germans...

Admit it, everybody is a little miffed by exploading toads

[phantom power]

2. Don't be so sentimental...

toads explode all the time!

[htuttle]

8. Well, it's eight o'clock,

...and time for the toad on top of your television to explode.

[Kellanved]

3. not really

I don't understand the story the English-language media is trying to make about it. There are more reports about it in English/American newspapers than in German.

Anyway: ´Many exploded toads were cut open (while still alive) and basically missing all internal organs except the heart.
The reason probably are birds only interested in the tasty parts, leaving the half-eaten toads to die.

[phantom power]

4. You are saying that these toads did not explode, but were eviscerated?

[Kellanved]

5. They were eviscerated and exploded as a consequence

Whatever that was out of fear or because of water filling the hurt toads has not yet been established.

[smirkymonkey]

6. What? Is W in Germany playing with his firecrackers again?

[Kellanved]

7. Explanation for 'exploding toads': crows

TOADS have been exploding by the hundred in Germany because they are being attacked by crows, a veterinary surgeon said.

Animal welfare workers and veterinarians had reported that as many as 1,000 toads had swelled to bursting point and exploded in recent days, propelling their entrails up to a metre into the air.

Now a veterinary surgeon, Frank Mutschmann, who has examined the remains of the toads, said they had been pierced with a single peck by crows trying to eat their livers.

This in turn caused the toads to explode.

...
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15122138%255E1702,00.html

The fascinating thing is : this very simple explanation was already included in the original German article about the matter..