A video of a group of cane toads riding on the back of a python during heavy rain in Australia has gone viral and also has people guessing why the poisonous frogs were sitting on the large snake.
The video, taken by Paul Mock in Kununurra, Australia, shows the toads hitching a ride on the snake during heavy rain in the neighborhood, the Independent reported. According to Mock, the toads had come out seeking shelter on higher ground due to the heavy rain flooding their natural habitat.
Mock went to check the local dam’s condition when he saw several toads on top of a 3.5-meter python. Mock often saw the snake on his property and had named it Monty.
Mock sent the video to his brother, who shared it on the social media platform Twitter.
Jodi Rowley, an amphibian biologist at the University of New South Wales, saw the video and said the toads were not hitching a ride but were, in fact, trying to mate with the python. She added that male cane toads often get carried away.
Cane toads are invasive animals and are known to have disrupted the Australian wildlife in recent years due to their uncontrollable population. They are not native to Australia and were introduced in a bid to control an insect that was eating sugarcane crops.
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