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Last Update: Monday, September 18, 2006. 8:20am (AEST)
Cane toad impact will boost croc hatchling numbers, researchers say
Researchers say there is about to be an explosion in the number of crocodiles entering a key Northern Territory river because cane toads have wiped out the goannas that would normally eat the crocodiles' eggs.

Researchers from Wildlife Management International have been studying a stretch of the McKinlay River for 20 years.

Chief scientist Charlie Manolis says goannas would normally eat 90 per cent of the area's crocodile eggs, but this year that figure has dropped to 10 per cent.

"The cane toads have just taken all the goannas out there. [It's] very rare that you can find a live goanna walking around here now," he said.

Mr Manolis says the same scene is probably being repeated in rivers across the Territory.

But he says it is unlikely there will be a crocodile plague, because predators will move in to feast on the hatchlings.

"The more hatchlings you have, the higher the mortality on the hatchlings," he said.

"Because there's fish, there's turtles, there's other crocodiles. There's a whole bunch of other predators who are more likely to kill the hatchlings if they are there in numbers than if they are there in low numbers."

The full impact will not be known until after the eggs finish incubating in March.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200609/s1742950.htm

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John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
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