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Cane Toads: An Unnatural History
1988 · Film · documentary · 47 min
Directed by Mark Lewis
A documentary detailing the spread of Hawaiian sugar-cane toads through Australia in a botched effort to introduce them as counter pests.
5 positive3 neutralfrom 8 commenters
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8 comments on Hacker News
If you haven't seen it, I recommend the movie "Cane Toads: An Unnatural History".
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130529/
The "Peter Pan" mutants sound clever, but biocontrol has such a dodgy history. I wonder what the impact of a permanently paedomorphic sub-population would be on the water insect population (both good and bad)? I take it since they're at the point of running field trials they'll have some data on that soon.
"Cane Toads: An Unnatural History" is an outstanding documentary film, and is worth watching even if the topic of invasive toads doesn't catch your immediate interest.
This film's approach to presenting the interaction between man and toad inspired Hamilton Morris, who used it as a conceptual guide when producing his own documentary series. Hamilton interviewed director Mark Lewis in podcast #72.
You can find a full copy of "Cane Toads" on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkxwrpJg5W0
Public Service Annoucement: If you only watch one informative documentary about the Cane Toad issue in Australia, make sure it's
Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (1988) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_Toads:_An_Unnatural_History
Lewis avoided harming toads and other wildlife during the production of the film. During a scene in which a man talks about intentionally running over toads with his car, footage appears to show a car swerving to hit toads. To simulate this, Lewis used potatoes which when shot at a distance appeared like toads on the road. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkxwrpJg5W0
Here is the list from the thread: --- 1. A Man Named Pearl
2. Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland
3. Microcosmos
4. Crip Camp!
5. Keep The River On Your Right
6. All The Beauty And The Bloodshed
7. Harlan County USA
8. Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story
9. Good Night Oppy
10. We Met in Virtual Reality
11. All That Breathes
12. Still
13. Can’t Be Stopped
14. The Amazing Jonathan Documentary
15. Searching for Sugarman
16. AKA Mr Chow
17. The Pigeon Tunnel
18. Little Richard: I Am Everything
19. I Know That Voice
20. Genghis Blues
21. Kings of Pastry
22. 20 Feet From Stardom
23. Stevie
24. Anvil: the Story of Anvil
25. Searching for Sugar Man
26. King of Kong
27. The Gleaners and I
28. Touching the Void
29. Cane Toads: An Unnatural History
30. 20 Days in Mariupol
31. Minding the Gap
32. How to Survive a Plague
33. Speciesism
34. Free Solo
35. Jim Allison: Breakthrough
36. Seven Up! series
37. Bowling for Columbine
38. The Fog of War
39. Rivers and Tides
40. Capturing the Friedmans
41. Spellbound
42. King of Kong
43. Crip Camp
44. Jesus Camp
45. Jiro Dreams of Sushi
46. Flee
47. Man on Wire
48. Queen of Versailles
49. The Thin Blue Line
50. Time Indefinite
51. The Gleaners and I
52. My Life as a Turkey
53. Happy People
54. Grizzly Man
'Cane Toads: An Unnatural History' (1988) - IMDb : https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0130529/
'Cane Toads: An Unnatural History' : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_Toads:_An_Unnatural_History
>'Cane Toads: An Unnatural History' site:youtube.com< : <https://html.duckduckgo.com/html/?q='Cane Toads: An Unnatural History' site:youtube.com>
If you're interested in this topic, I can very strongly recommend the documentary "Cane Toads: An Unnatural History". There seems to be a copy on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SBLf1tsoaw
I rarely say this, but I believe that you will not regret it.
I recommend this excellent and hilarious documentary if you'd like to find out more about cane toads:
> Cane Toads: An Unnatural History
https://imdb.com/title/tt0130529/
(I have found versions of this on YouTube, but unsure how legal they may be)
The same thing happened in Australia decades ago. There is a 1988 documentary called "Cane Toads: An Unnatural History" that tells that story. Any information on the extend of the problem today?