Cane toad

Rhinella marina · The cane toad is a large, terrestrial true toad native to South and Central America that has now been introduced across Oceania, the Caribbean, and Northern Australia.

Also called Giant neotropical toad, Marine toad, Agua Toad, Giant Marine Toad, Giant Toad.

Cane toad
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Cane toad
Photo: brian.gratwicke, CC BY 2.0
Cane toad
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAmphibia
OrderAnura
FamilyBufonidae
GenusRhinella
SpeciesRhinella marina

Where it lives

Native from Texas to the Amazon; invasive in Australia and on Pacific islands.

Fun facts

  • A female cane toad can lay 8,000–25,000 eggs at once, in jelly strings that can stretch up to 20 m (66 ft) long.
  • The largest recorded cane toad had a snout-to-vent length of 24 cm (about 9.4 inches).
  • When threatened, a cane toad can inflate its lungs and lift its body off the ground to look taller and scarier to predators.
  • Cane toads can survive losing over half their body water, letting them live outside humid tropical environments.

Play it

The Cane toad was the creature in a regional daily on November 12, 2026. Can you identify tomorrow's from its photos? Every day brings a new creature to place from kingdom to genus, map and name.

Play today's creature or replay a past daily

Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).