CALL in the meat ants. That’s the new proposal for dealing with the spread of toxic cane toads across tropical Australia. Rick Shine at the University of Sydney says the ferocious insects have been seen feeding on cane toadlets, and thinks laying down bait to attract them to ponds where toadlets congregate until the wet season may help control their spread.
To see if this would encourage the ants to feed on native frogs as well, Shine’s team housed them with cane toads and native species. They found native frogs leapt away quickly when bitten by a meat ant, leaving…
