Rangers were conducting track work in Conway National Park, near Airlie Beach, when they found a monster cane toad beside the Conway Circuit last week.

Ranger Kylee Gray said a snake slithering across the track forced them to stop their vehicle, and when she stepped out and looked down, she gasped when she saw the monster cane toad.

“I reached down and grabbed the cane toad and couldn’t believe how big and heavy it was. We dubbed it Toadzilla, and quickly put it into a container so we could remove it from the wild. A cane toad that size will eat anything it can fit into its mouth, and that includes insects, reptiles and small mammals” Gray said.

“We believe it’s a female due to the size, and female cane toads do grow bigger than males. When we returned to base, she weighed in at 2.7kg, which could be a new record,” she added.

The cane toad (Rhinella marina), also known as the giant neotropical toad or marine toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad native to South and mainland Central America, but which has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania and the Caribbean, as well as Northern Australia.

It is a member of the genus Rhinella, which includes many true toad species found throughout Central and South America, but it was formerly assigned to the genus Bufo. (ILKHA)