The tale of the horny toad

[HornedToad]

One of my fondest memories growing up in Midland, Texas was going out into the desert with my friends and catching horny toads by the dozens in our little red wagon. We had horny toad armies with horny toad wars, horny toad round-ups with horny toad rodeos and horny toad races.

I moved away from Midland in the late 1960’s to return 30 years later. In the decade since I’ve been back I’ve seen two horny toads.

What happened? A non-native species of fire ants hitched a ride on a cargo ship from South America and spread to Texas competing for the food and territory of harvester ants, the horny toad’s primary food source.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

Tread lightly on our planet my friend…

Small seemingly insignificant events can have dramatic and long lasting impact on the environment.

What kind of beetle was in that firewood you bought in Texas and hauled to a campsite in Colorado?

Was that a Kudzu vine wrapped around your axle or a zebra mussel on your boat propeller?

 

[jimtoo]

Mike,,, I agree with you completely. We have a large vacant lot plus there is another 5-7 acres next to it almost empty. When the kids were young... 40 years ago we had Horned toads all over the place. I may have seen one in the last 15 years. To many fire ants and to much of what it takes to get rid of them.Jim M

 

[Lynn1130]

Desert tortoise that used to be so common when I was a kid now are endangered. European honey bees are now replaced by African bees. We continue to destroy our environment . I have said before we are a dead end species. We will eventually kill ourselves off .

 

[pegmikef]

Same thing in San Angelo. When we got here in 1970 the back yard of our little house was overrun with the horny toads . . . now they are very rare even in the park. I haven't seen one in years . . . now little lizards, that's another story.

 

[TravelTiger]

As a kid I used to catch them on my grandparent's farm in Abernathy (North of Lubbock). As I got to be a teen in the 80s, we saw less and less of them out there.


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[scottyb]

One of my fondest memories growing up in Midland, Texas was going out into the desert with my friends and catching horny toads by the dozens in our little red wagon. We had horny toad armies with horny toad wars, horny toad round-ups with horny toad rodeos and horny toad races.

I moved away from Midland in the late 1960’s to return 30 years later. In the decade since I’ve been back I’ve seen two horny toads.

What happened? A non-native species of fire ants hitched a ride on a cargo ship from South America and spread to Texas competing for the food and territory of harvester ants, the horny toad’s primary food source.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

Tread lightly on our planet my friend…

Small seemingly insignificant events can have dramatic and long lasting impact on the environment.

What kind of beetle was in that firewood you bought in Texas and hauled to a campsite in Colorado?

Was that a Kudzu vine wrapped around your axle or a zebra mussel on your boat propeller?

Same for me in Odessa. You couldn't walk anywhere without seeing at least one if not more. We would carry them around for a while but ultimately released them. It was taboo to do any harm to them in our neighborhood. Was told they were being captured to be sold at one time.

I have a couple red ant hills on my acreage, that have been here for the 20 years I have owned the property. We used to get rid of them in west Texas, but now they are much more appreciated thanks to fire ants. I actually mow around them. I don't think horny toads ever had a presence here, in central Texas.

 

[GlenStMary]

You are completely correct about us killing ourselves off!

 

[scottyb]

European honey bees are now replaced by African bees.

I am doing my part to help them with the Africanization by saturating the area with Italians. Last night, I just finished bottling 96 lbs of the darkest honey I have ever seen. My 1st harvest after 3 years of raising them.

 

[Lynn1130]

Horny Toad populations run with the insect and ant populations. There are tons of them in the forests this year but then it rained an unusual amount and there were tons of insects too. The grand kids were catching so many that we had to limit them to preserve the population

 

[priorguy]

4 moose were introduced to the island of Newfoundland in 1904 and ballooned to 150,000 within 100 years. All descended from the original 4 moose. The are almost 800 collisions with vehicles per year on the 18,800 square mile island. Usually a car looses in a moose collision, as they weigh between 850 and 1200 pounds typically. Another case of an animal brought to a place it isn't naturally from and overrunning an area with no natural predators.

 

[Eddhuy]

First off, I am not trying to start an argument, just expressing my opinion.

I don't know that I agree. I bet that species have been relocating and being replaced long before man and his influence was upon this planet. Maybe we'll help here and there but things have always been changing and always will. Our attempts to keep things the same is just as damaging overall I'd bet. I don't think man can change the laws of the universe, he can only attempt to understand and do some manipulation. Mankind's demise will probably be the natural evolution of the universe rather than mans influence upon it. Just my opinion.

 

[Lynn1130]

Sorry but I strongly disagree. Ships, planes, and cars and MAN have transferred species from areas where they belong to areas where they do not belong. We have hunted out species that might have gone away on there own (MAYBE) and increased their demise by hundreds of years. We have introduced invasive plants and animals with the idea of good and it turned out bad. One small example, mongoose in Hawaii to rid the island of rats also introduce by man, only to find out mongoose hunt during the day and rats are out at night. Now too many mongoose and no natural enemies. Not to mention the Kudzu invasion killing natural plants, oh and the mongoose are killing the natural bird population. Those are only a few, and very few examples. Sparrows in the US, but they don't belong here they are European and brought here my MAN. Invasive mussels in every waterway in this country, brought in by ships from other countries. They clog intake pipes and kill native fish because they clean the water of all natural microscopic food. Need I go on?

Oh and while I have never been a strong believer in global warming, I am now beginning to question my original beliefs. If this is the case, I give us another 200 years and we will be gone from the face of this planet.

I am no tree hugger. ( I live in Arizona, that should tell you something) they have no common sense (sorry if you are one). I hunt and fish but I am a strong believer in protecting our environment and saving what is left of the wild lands of our country. We are killing our planet and ourselves with our "it is all about me" policies.

Sorry, I got on my soapbox but that is my opinion.

 

[priorguy]

First off, I am not trying to start an argument, just expressing my opinion.

I don't know that I agree. I bet that species have been relocating and being replaced long before man and his influence was upon this planet. Maybe we'll help here and there but things have always been changing and always will. Our attempts to keep things the same is just as damaging overall I'd bet. I don't think man can change the laws of the universe, he can only attempt to understand and do some manipulation. Mankind's demise will probably be the natural evolution of the universe rather than mans influence upon it. Just my opinion.

Right on Eddhuy, our time on the planet is but a blip in it's history. We will one day got the way of the do-do or the dinosaur only to replaced by another superior species. The cycle of life. We are very insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Nature has a way of cleansing itself when necessary.