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The cane toad invaded Australia long ago. Since then, the country has been at war with the large amphibian not because it is an animal, but because it destroys crops. These toxic toads also kill off wildlife that try to eat them.

The newest weapon in the battle appears to be a cat food can. Researchers found that leaving an open can of cat food near a pond where baby cane toads dwell attracts a meat-eating type of ant. The ants also happen to be immune to the toads’ toxins, and they can successfully eat the baby toads.

If we can use the animals against each other, we might just win this thing.

Key quote: “In one spot we tested, 98 percent of the baby toads were attacked within the first two minutes,” researcher Rick Shine told Reuters. “It was a bit like a massacre.”

Warriors of the Week: Cane toads

It’s always fun to watch the opposing side succumb to infighting. When it comes to the War on Animals, there is still plenty of this, not only because of a food chain and all that nonsense, but because they can’t help but kill each other sometimes.

In Australia, cane toads are all over the place, or so Discovery (Channel) would have us believe. This is a bad thing for humans in most cases (like say, if you live in Australia and want to eat things produced on a farm), but aside from making a delightful squishing sound when you run over them, cane toads are helping us in another way: they are killing off crocs.

The poisonous toads, which are native to South America, are being eaten by Australia crocodiles, and the poisons then in turn kill the killers. Really, this solves two problems for us. We have fewer cane toads and fewer crocodiles. This is a win-win situation.