Where is the species currently found?
First of all, one can see in figure one that Australia is one of the countries that have a wide spread of Cane Toads. One can see that in Figure 6, it communicates that the costal areas, which are colored in black, are the areas that the Cane Toad are currently found. When one compares this with Fig 7 which is the map of Australia, these areas correspond to be the Cape York Peninsula, Cairns, Townsville, and the cane toad Distribution is especially concentrated on Brisbane since this is near where the Cane toads were originally introduced in July of 1935 (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones). Most of these areas are costal from Yamba to Port Macquarie (“How far have they spread? Why are they a problem?”). Moving on the Blue areas such as Kimberly Plateau, and the Barley Tableland are considered potential invasion zones which means that Cane toads might invade these areas as well. Finally, most of Queensland is colored with specks of orange which stands for preventable future invasion zone which means that cane toads might be able to be controlled in these areas. It is said that the cane toads had moved slowly across Australia going 10 kilometers per year till 1960 (“Cane Toad Invasion”). However, in the present they quadrupled this speed and can go up to 40 kilometers distance each year (“Cane Toad Invasion”). One can see this different by looking at Fig 8, which communicates the distribution of Cane Toads in Queensland as years pass. One can see that From 1939 to 1959 in a span of 20 years not much expansion has happened but from 1959 to 1974, there was rapid expansion of the Cane Toad Population almost tripling in where they can be found.
The Cane Toad is currently found in both the countries that are highlighted in blue and the countries that were colored in red. The areas that are marked with blue indicate that that is their native area while the red indicated introduction of the Cane toad in different countries. The Blue countries include areas like, Texas, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Tobago, and the Pearl Islands (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones). The red areas include places such as Florida, Ogasawara and Ryukyu Islands in Japan, the Philippines, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, the Virgin Islands, Fiji, and islands in the Indian Ocean such as Fiji, Hawaiian islands, and the Solomon Islands (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones).
Another pace where a great number of Cane Toads can be found is in Florida. Florida is one the states in America besides the Hawaiian Islands to have Cane Toads currently found. One can see in Fig 9 that central and South Florida and a speck of North Florida is covered in green, which means that Cane Toads occupy this area (“Florida’s Frogs & Toads”). The Areas that the Cane Toads occupy currently in Florida can correspond to figure 10, which is the map of Florida. Cane Toads occupy different counties in Florida such as Miami-Dade, Broward, Martin Highlands, Hardee, Polk, and Hillsborough. It also occupies the Gulf and the Bay in tiny specks as well.
These are just the bigger areas of land the cane toad is currently found but they are also found in places such as Texas, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Tobago, and the Pearl, Ogasawara and Ryukyu Islands in Japan, the Philippines, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, the Virgin Islands, Fiji, and islands in the Indian Ocean such as Fiji, Hawaiian islands, and the Solomon Islands (Markula, Csurhes & Hannan-Jones) as mentioned before.
