| 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 | |
|
Ollotis alvaria |
|
The Colorado River toad, Bufo alvarius, also known as the Sonoran Desert toad, is a psychoactive toad found in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. Its skin and venom contain 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenin.
Contents |
The Colorado River toad is carnivorous, eating small rodents, insects, and small reptiles and other toad species; like many toads, it has a long, sticky tongue which aids it in catching prey. It lives in both desert and semi-arid areas throughout the range of its habitat. It is semi-aquatic and are often found in streams, near springs, and in canals and drainage ditches. It often makes its home in rodent burrows, and is nocturnal. It has a loud, piercing call.
The toads generally breed 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.
The toad's primary defense system are glands that produce a poison that may be potent enough to kill a 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. These substances, present in the skin and venom of the toad, produce psychoactive effects when smoked.
The toads received national attention after a story was published in the New York Times Magazine in 1994 about a California teacher who became the first person to be arrested for possessing the venom of the toads.[3][4] The substance concerned, bufotenin, had been outlawed in California in 1970.[5]
In November 2007, a man in Kansas City was discovered with a B. alvarius toad in his possession, and charged with possession of a controlled substance after they determined he intended to use its secretions to get high.[6][7] In Arizona one may legally bag up to ten toads with a fishing license but 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.[8]
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..."[8]
In California, B. alvarius has been designated as "endangered" and possession of this toad is illegal. "It is unlawful to capture, collect, intentionally kill or injure, possess, purchase, propagate, sell, transport, import or export any native reptile or amphibian, or part thereof..."[9]
In New Mexico, this toad is listed as "threatened" and, again, taking B. alvarius is unlawful.[10][11]