What’s making toads puff up and explode in Northern Europe? More than 1,000 toad corpses have been found at a pond in an upscale neighborhood in Hamburg, Germany, and over the border in Denmark after bloating and bursting.
The pond water in Hamburg has been tested, but its quality is fine. Toad remains have been checked for a virus or bacterium–negative.
One German scientist has a theory: Hungry crows are pecking out their livers.
“Crows are clever,” said Frank Mutschmann, a Berlin veterinarian who tested specimens. “They learn quickly from watching other crows how to get the livers.”
Based on wounds, it appears that a bird pecks into the toad, and the toad puffs itself up as a natural defense mechanism, Mutschmann said.
But, because the liver is missing and there’s a hole in the toad’s body, the lungs burst, and blood vessels and organs ooze out, he said.
