| Saturday, April 30, 2005 |
| EXPLODING TOADS BAFFLE GERMAN SCIENTISTS |
BERLIN -- More than 1,000 toads have puffed up and exploded in a Hamburg pond in recent weeks, and scientists have no explanation.
The pond's water and body parts of the toads have been tested, but scientists have been unable to find bacteria or a virus that would cause the toads to swell up and pop, said Janne Kloepper of the Hamburg based Institute for Hygiene and the Environment.
"It's absolutely strange," she said Wednesday. "We have a really unique story here in Hamburg. This phenomenon really does'nt seem to have appeared anywhere before".
The toads at a pond in the upscale neighborhood of Altona have been blowing up since the beginning of the month, filling up like balloons until their stomach burst.
"It looks like a scene from a science fiction movie," Werner Schmolnik, the head of a local enviroment group, told the Hamburg Abendblatt daily. "The bloated animals suffer for several minutes before they finally die".
Biologists have come up with several theories, but Kloepper said most have been ruled out.
She said test will continue. In the meantime, city residents have been warned to stay away from the pond.
(Asoociated Press) |
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