Colorado River Toad

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Colorado River Toad

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Bufonidae
Genus: Bufo
Species: B. alvarius
Binomial name
Bufo alvarius
Girard in Baird, 1859
Synonyms

Cranopsis alvaria, Ollotis alvaria

The Colorado River Toad or Bufo alvarius, also known as the Sonoran Desert Toad, is a psychoactive toad found in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The skin and venom of Bufo alvarius contain 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenin.

Cranopsis alvaria United States range map (the toad also lives in northwest Mexico).
Cranopsis alvaria United States range map (the toad also lives in northwest Mexico).

Contents

[edit] Natural History

The Colorado River Toad is carnivorous, eating small rodents, insects, and small reptiles and other toad species; like many toads, they have a long, sticky tongue which aids them in catching prey. It lives in both desert and semi-arid areas throughout the range of its habitat. They are semi-aquatic and are often found in streams, near springs, and in canals and drainage ditches. They often make their home in rodent burrows and are nocturnal.

The toad generally breeds in small rain pools after the summer showers start; they spend approximately one month as yellowish-brown tadpoles before moving onto the land. They grow to be up to 4-7 inches long.

[edit] Venom and The Law

The toad's primary defense system is glands that produce a poison that is potent enough to kill a full grown dog.[1] These parotoid glands also produce the 5-MeO-DMT [2] and bufotenin for which the toad is known; both of these chemicals belong to the family of hallucinogenic tryptamines. The presence of these substances in the skin and poison of the toad produces psychoactive effects when smoked.[3]

Bufotenine is a Schedule I controlled substance. While possession of the toad is not a crime in itself (in Arizona one may legally bag up to ten toads with a fishing license), it could constitute a criminal violation if it can be shown that one is in possession of this toad with the intent to milk and smoke its venom.[4] In November 2007, a man in Kansas City was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance when police discovered C. alvaria toad venom in his possession. [5][6]

It should also be noted that none of the states in which B. alvarius is (or was) indigenous - California, Arizona, and New Mexico - legally allow a person to remove the toad from the state. For example, the Arizona Department of Game and Fish is clear about the law in Arizona: "An individual shall not... export any live wildlife from the state; 3. Transport, possess, offer for sale, sell, sell as live bait, trade, give away, purchase, rent, lease, display, exhibit, propagate... within the state..."[7] In California, B. alvarius has been designated as "endangered" and possession of this toad is illegal.[8][9] In New Mexico, this toad is listed as "threatened" and, again, taking B. alvarius is unlawful.[10][11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Steven J. Phillips, Patricia Wentworth Comus (eds.) (2000). A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert. University of California Press, 537. ISBN 0-520-21980-5. 
  2. ^ Toxins of Bufo alvarius
  3. ^ http://www.erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Toad_Venom.shtml Erowid's Toad Venom Experience Vault
  4. ^ http://www.azgfd.gov/pdfs/h_f/regulations/2007-2008ReptileRegulations.pdf
  5. ^ Kansas City man was arrested for possession of a Bufo Alvarius, Sonoran Desert Toad, Colorado River Toad
  6. ^ Drug sweep yields weed, coke, toad - KCCommunityNews.com
  7. ^ http://www.azgfd.gov/pdfs/h_f/regulations/2007-2008ReptileRegulations.pdf
  8. ^ California'S Plants And Animals
  9. ^ California 2008-2009 Freshwater Fishing Regulations
  10. ^ 19.33.6 NMAC
  11. ^ 19.35.10 NMAC
  • Pauly, G. B., D. M. Hillis, and D. C. Cannatella. (2004) The history of a Nearctic colonization: Molecular phylogenetics and biogeography of the Nearctic toads (Bufo). Evolution 58: 2517–2535.
  • Hammerson & Santos-Barrera (2004). Bufo alvarius. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this particular species is of least concern
  • Frost, Darrel R., et al. (2006). "The Amphibian Tree of Life". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 297: 1–370. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2006)297[0001:TATOL]2.0.CO;2. 

[edit] External links