The cane toad is a large venomous toad that comes from the Americas, mainly Central America but also parts of the southern USA, Hawaii and South America. It can grow to almost 2 feet (24 cm) in length although most average around 13 to 15 cm. Cane toads eat mainly insects although they will eat all kinds of food and have been known to steal pet food from outside houses. Their venom is painful to humans but rarely fatal.

Cane toads were the subject of a famous, and disastrous, experiment in the 1930s. They were imported into Australia to try and control the beetles that were eating Australian crops. Unfortunately, they didn't do a very good job of this but they did succeed in breeding and massively increasing their numbers. In their natural habitat they are to some extent controlled by larger predators, but there are few of these in Australia and the cane toad eventually became a pest more serious than the beetles it was brought in to control.