How this Notorious Australian Bird is Saving its Reputation
Photo from Jenny Waldron
Edited by Yujin Tchun
The Australian White ibis is a bird better known in Australia as the ‘bin chicken’ due to its tendency to scavenge through rubbish bins and landfills to find any food it can. It is fair to say this inclination has not made them a favoured animal. However, while the Australian White ibis (whose scientific name is Threskiornis molucca) is native to the island, their method of killing an introduced pest is helping to increase their standing with the Australian population.
The Cane toad, which was introduced in the 1930s, has poison stored in its skin that is released when the toad is in danger. This poison usually causes heart attacks and thus is fatal to most animals. Because the toad (whose scientific name is Rhinella marina) doesn’t have any natural predators and a single female cane toad can produce up to 70,000 offspring each year, the population of the toads has exploded and it is estimated there are now over 2 billion across Australia.
At first, experts were confused by the reports of the White ibis picking up Cane toads, submerging them in streams, and wiping them in wet grass. Through further observation they were able to ascertain that they were teasing the poison out of the toads' skin to make them safer to eat, a technique dubbed the ‘stress, wash and repeat” method.
Professor Rick Shine of Macquarie University said that a lot of the important population control of the Cane toads was being done by animals that are generally disliked by most Australians, such as the ibis, rodents, and ants.
"All of those animals are actually doing a wonderful job as an unseen army that are reducing the numbers of cane toads every year," Professor Shine said.
So, while the Australian White ibis may continue to be known as the ‘bin chicken’, it seems likely they will begin to be viewed in a positive light by their human neighbors as they continue to control the population of the much despised Cane toads.
Sources
