This large ravenous toad has been introduced accidentally and deliberately in many places around the world. It's the infamous "Cane Toad" of Australia, for example. But it's native to Central America.

These tiny toadlets were a-hopping all over the shores of a peaceful lagoon in the Rio Claro. They had obviously just graduated from the tadpoling life and were about to begin eating their way to tremendously large adult toadhood.

Here's a nice big chunky adult, one of dozens we saw galumphing around the Golfito area. A particularly large individual spent its evenings eating cat food from the dish of the lodge's resident kitty.

Rhinella marina was introduced to northern Queensland in 1935 in an attempt to control the population of a type of beetle that was ravaging the sugar cane crops. The toads ignored the cane beetles, but began ravaging everything else in sight instead. They have immense appetites, breed by the zillions, and secrete poisonous gunk that makes them unpalatable to all but a tiny handful of native Australian animals (and dangerous to many). When we went out on wet nights in tropical northeast Queensland, we saw a variety of native frogs, but the cane toads outnumbered them at least 20 to 1. The toad pictured here looks like he's hanging his head in shame at what his species has done to the native wildlife.

This little toadlet was hopping around on the beach. It can be tough to tell tiny little toads apart, but as far as I've been able to tell Rhinella marina is the only real candidate in this area, and this sure looks exactly like the ones I saw in Costa Rica.

In their inexorable all-devouring march across Australia that started in Queensland in 1935, the cane toads reached the Top End just a few years ago. They are now the most plentiful amphibians in the area. The government has tried various programs to stop their spread, but they are unstoppable..

I’ve written up an account of this three-week trip to Australia here.