The Guttural Toad

Indigenous African Cape Town Invader content

• Who is the Amietophrynus gutturalis a.k.a. The Guttural Toad ? • Where does the Guttural Toad Come from ? • What is the Guttural toad doing here ? • Why fret? • Is there much to do about something ? Who is the Guttural Toad ? Habitat • Forest eco-tones • Savannah • Grassland • Thicket Breeding Habitat Where is the guttural toad from? Natural distribution No shortage of the Guttural Toad What Is It Doing Here?

Why Fret ? • Western Leopard Toad - Amietophrynus pantherinus - EN • Cape Rain Frog - Breviseps gubbosus - V • Micro Frog - Microbatrachella capensis - CR • Table Mountain Ghost Frog - Heliophrene rosei - CR And many others, not only frogs, as they out compete for resources and are known to eat other frogs, insects and spiders

Western Leopard Toad WLT Distribution

Speckles across this Distribution Proximity The problem?

• Displacement • Habitat Pressure • Food Resources • Pathogens • GT successful in disturbed environments The Issues?

• Lack of Resources • Property access • Public cooperation • Managing Conflicting messages -Kill the Guttural -Save the WLT • Public Killing misidentified toads What is being done about this ?

We have a total eradication plan Capture Plan • Traps • Collecting from community members • Capture tad poles and eggs in residential dams during and after breading season and restrict access to breading ponds • Active search and capture • Luring by mating call recording Who are ‘WE’ What are your chances ?

• Approximate modulated number @ ± 15 000 Toads • Almost double every year • Spread over >5km² • Breed and occur on private property • No record of successful invasive amphibian eradication Id say just Great Can we prove they are a threat ?

No, but can we afford to wait and find out ? Is It Worth The Effort? References

• http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/54659/rangemap • http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/54723/rangemap • http://images.google.co.za/imgres?imgurl=http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/imgs/128x192/1111_1111/1111/12 33.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query%3Fstat%3DBROWSE%26query_src%3Dph otos_fauna_com-Amphibian%26where-lifeform%3DAmphibian%26where- namesoup%3DGuttural%2BToad%26rel- namesoup%3Dmatchphrase%26title_tag%3DGuttural%2BToad&usg=__K2iTaFo0TUubrUZ8S2DKDpNmW 4s=&h=128&w=192&sz=51&hl=en&start=16&tbnid=_y13lrBrebJAYM:&tbnh=69&tbnw=103&prev=/images% 3Fq%3DGuttural%2BToad%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG • http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=aw_maps_geo-ant&where- taxon=Bufo+gutturalis&rel-taxon=begins+with&where-lifeform=specimen_tag&rel-lifeform=ne • http://images.google.co.za/imgres?imgurl=http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/imgs/128x192/1111_1111/1111/12 33.jpeg&imgrefurl=http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query%3Fstat%3DBROWSE%26query_src%3Dph otos_fauna_com-Amphibian%26where-lifeform%3DAmphibian%26where- namesoup%3DGuttural%2BToad%26rel- namesoup%3Dmatchphrase%26title_tag%3DGuttural%2BToad&usg=__K2iTaFo0TUubrUZ8S2DKDpNmW 4s=&h=128&w=192&sz=51&hl=en&start=16&tbnid=_y13lrBrebJAYM:&tbnh=69&tbnw=103&prev=/images% 3Fq%3DGuttural%2BToad%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG • Minter L.R, Burger M., Harrison J.A. ,Braak H.H., Bishop P.J, Kloepfer ; 2004, Atlas and Red Data Book of the Frogs of Southern Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, Pp 67-69 & pp 71-75, SI/MAB Series #9.Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC. • Photography: Clifford Dorse; Maya Beukes