http://www.livescience.com/animals/quolls-avoid-cane-toads-100413.html
Quolls, a small Marsupial, are being pushed into extinction by their choice of diet. In 1935 Cane toads were introduced to Australia from Hawaii to try and control the scarab beetles population. Cane toads are now spreading and becoming part of the Quolls diet, but they are so poisonous that the Quoll dies after eating the cane toad.
In an attempt to save the Quolls researchers have begun training Quolls. With a group of 62 Quolls they trained one half of the group to associate eating the toad with being sick. They fed them a very small toad, less than 2 grams, with a chemical that would make them feel nauseous. The toad was not big enough to kill them but the chemical was enough to make them sick. They later tested the process by showing them a cane toad in a plastic container and seeing if they would attack.
The Quolls were given a radio collar and released into the wild. Those that went through the training process lived five times longer. Given the success of the experiment researchers hope to expand their training program.
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Another example of humanities aptitude for f**kin stuff up for mother nature. A similar thing happened in hawaii during the early 1900's. Traders accidentally introduced rats to the island. The rats, with their constant coupling and short gestation period, quickly swelled in numbers. Snakes were then introduced to the island to thin out the rat population. It worked, a little too well in fact. The island traded it's rat problem for a snake problem. In a stroke of sheer ignorance, mongeese were introduced into the envirnment to fight the snakles. Guess what happened. That's right, now the island has a mongoose problem and I can tell you from first hand experience, a sun warmed snake is not half as threatening as a territorial mongoose.
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