The Plague of Frogs 243
jpbostic writes "According to this article on MSNBC, ag folks in Hawaii were considering using powdered caffeine to help rid themselves of an infestation of frogs from Puerto Rico. The EPA's application regulations apparently proved too burdensome and the stuff sits in a warehouse. If the EPA is really concerned with the danger, they should investigate the coffee in some restaurants *quoth the caffeine addict*. :-)"
Holy shit.. (Score:4, Funny)
Frogs on caffeine (Score:2, Funny)
Am I?
Re:Frogs on caffeine (Score:2, Funny)
I'm sorry. I'm going to go take a nap now. Moderators, do what you must.
Re:Frogs on caffeine (Score:4, Interesting)
I **vaguely** recall hearing that the caffiene has an adverse effect on their nervous system, in essense blocking the signals from the brain and to the brain. As in once they get it in them (dunno if it's absorption or consumption) they just don't move.. and shut down.
Someone please correct me. That's so vague on details that I'm SURE I've at least got part, if not all of it, wrong. Hopefully the real solution is better than freezing to death, though...
.
Re:Frogs on caffeine (Score:1)
Re:Frogs on caffeine (Score:1)
Re:Frogs on caffeine (Score:2, Informative)
Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that interferes with a neurotransmitter in the brain called adenosine. Caffeine also acts at other places in the body to increase heart rate, constrict blood vessels, relax air passages, and affect muscles. An overdose of caffeine is lethal to the coqui frog.
There is a link [hear.org] there to another page with examples of what they sound like. Though I'm rather against killing anything just to kill it, these ARE an alien species...so...erg. It's still a tough call. Damn conscience!
Not only are they noisy... (Score:1)
Re:Frogs on caffeine (Score:2)
Frogs on a hundred cups of coffee ... what an image. Lots of
little cappuccino cups?
Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org) [sethf.com]
Re:Frogs on caffeine (Score:1, Troll)
This is like roundup for the clueless.
Absorbtion. (Score:2)
Spiders and Caffeine (Score:5, Interesting)
(pic [cannabis.net])
(Trust me, the link is relevant.)
Any questions?
Caffeine is a drug that seems to have a stronger impact on small animals.
Won't work. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Won't work. (Score:2)
Re:Won't work. (Score:1)
Re:Won't work. (Score:1)
I dont like the french either ... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I dont like the french either ... (Score:1, Troll)
>reels.
A bigger threat would be to send them all back to the US.
Please. Anything but that. Please, keep the Jerry Lewis movies in France where you seem to enjoy them so much.
*shudder*
-l
Slow hunters? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Slow hunters? (Score:2, Interesting)
I thought amphibians were disappearing? (Score:4, Interesting)
So why all the frogs? Hawaii... also Australia has also had a heck of a time with frogs, and in BC we've had a problem with huge frogs (the tadpoles are the size of your fist, and mature frogs so big they have been eating the ducks!) Just seems like contradictory evidence to me, maybe some species are heartier than others?
Websurfing done right! StumbleUpon [stumbleupon.com]
Re:I thought amphibians were disappearing? (Score:1)
This is all from a TLC show a week or so ago... A little late on the article guys.
These amphibians don't belong (Score:2)
Since these frogs don't have a tadpole stage (they grow from eggs laid in/on said plants) they are much easier to carry.
Since they don't belong there are no natural predators, so their population grows unabated, and they compete with birds for food resources.
These croakers have gotta go!
And have you heard the sound sample? (go to hawaii star bulletin website) EEEESH!
Thank god they haven't taken over kaua'i! (two weeks baby...)
Re:I thought amphibians were disappearing? (Score:2)
Er, eh? We have? Tell on, do. I'd like to see some of those monsters!
Re:I thought amphibians were disappearing? (Score:2)
Re:I thought amphibians were disappearing? (Score:1)
Oh, I thought you were Canadian.
Re:I thought amphibians were disappearing? (Score:1)
Geez Louise! Tadpoles the size of your fist eh? Know of any articles or pictures that shows these things in reference? I found a few things on google about BC frogs, but not much talking about these problematic huge frogs.
Re:I thought amphibians were disappearing? (Score:1)
Re:I thought amphibians were disappearing? (Score:2)
http://www.crd.bc.ca/parks/parkelk.htm
It mentions "giant bullfrogs." I'm not sure if it's the same frog, but it sounds like it is. They are humongous. And by the way, "duck" should be "ducklings" in my original post. It still takes a big frog to eat a duckling.
Re:I thought amphibians were disappearing? (Score:1)
Frogs in a balanced ecosystem, as well as other amphibians, are a good indicator of pollution, but in Hawaii, as in Australia, and the Florida panhandle, non-native frogs overrun native populations by eating everything in sight including the native species.
Re:I thought amphibians were disappearing? (Score:1)
You have never seen "mountain chicken." These are frogs which are indigenous to certain parts of the caribbean. They get so big that a family of four can get more food out of it than two chickens.
Re:I thought amphibians were disappearing? (Score:2)
Solution obvious: Set up a huge coal-fired generator immediately to the east of Hawaii, and remove the scrubbers from the smokestacks!
It's arguably less-wasteful than having three tons of powdered caffeine sitting idle in a warehouse. If it ain't being used for the frogs, let me have some!.
(My only complaint with three tons of powdered caffeine in Hawaii is that it probably means there was an awful lot of good Hawaiian coffee that's been ruined by decaffeination.)
Hyperactive frogs. (Score:1)
Forget the frogs! (Score:1)
OOooooooh, yeah......
Re:Forget the frogs! (Score:2)
Re:Forget the frogs! (Score:2, Funny)
Yea great (Score:2)
The feds just can't quit, why the hell is it fed business if an infistation arrives to any State and that State is not allowed to eradicate the infevction?
Re:Yea great (Score:2)
I suppose they're going to try to justify it by claiming the frogs "crossed state lines", making it a federal case?
In the long run, I don't think something like a frog infestation problem is going to be cured without putting some sort of toxin or poison out. The sad thing is, there's probably a substance much more harmful to the ecosystem than some powdered caffeine that will end up being legal to use, simply because the FDA has already studied it and approved it.
Easy solution (Score:1)
(squeak!)
Coqui (Score:1)
Chance to support the OSDN.com cabal (Score:1)
Attention Slashdot administration, this is your cue to insert a helpful banner ad [thinkgeek.com] here.
You're welcome.
Caffeine + Hunting (Score:2, Funny)
I know a lot of little boys would jump at the opportunity.
About coqui (Score:2, Interesting)
They are rarely heard in cities but they abound in other areas. I know of foreigners how can not handle the sound at first, but after awhile they get accustomed, just like us. (Maybe in Hawaii it got REALLY out of control.) If you can spot a coqui alone (that is, not in deafeaning armies), you'll probably agree that they are quite OK.
At one point coquis were believed to be headed for extinction.
Re:About coqui (Score:1)
Re:About coqui (Score:1)
Re:About coqui (Score:2)
But isn't the noise exaggerated a bit? They wren't THAT loud. I don't even remember hearing them inside the house. Granted, I was in town (Bayamon, a suburb of San Juan). It's probably worse in the jungle.
Also, insects. Are there really so few insects in Hawaii that some frogs will endanger the birds by eating their food supply? Seems like more ways of getting rid of bugs is a GOOD thing.
PR certainly has agriculture and tourism, so any long term threat to Hawaii seems unlikely.
And in related news... (Score:4, Funny)
Now the Hawaii ag folks have to figure out how to get rid of all the coders. An anonymous source in the state government was quoted as saying "Actually, we're thinking of holding them, and not releasing them. We are going to corner the geek market, and then make a fortune charging other states by the hour."
There is no word from the Whitehouse at this time regarding the swarm of geeks descending on Hawaii, but the President is expected to make a short statement later this evening.
Caffeine (Score:1)
Next headline: Coffee and jolt cola found to help cure cancer
Could you also imagine getting hold of the powder they use, better drink mix the alcohol
Medevo
Re:Caffeine (Score:1)
Well, caffeine molecules absorb free radicals... Then again, caffeine is a mutagen...
Caffeine absorbs free radicals, so there is less stuff that is likely to damage DNA (cancer is Damage to DNA, and the process that regulates cell division)
However without adenosine regulating sleep (and body regeneration), you could only wonder what more short term problems are more likely to happen then Cancer
As for mutations
MedevoCaffeine is a "base analogue" of Adenine, and in fact can sometimes be incorporated into a growing DNA chain, instead of Adenine. Caffeine is a weak mutagen, for this reason. From http://fusionanomaly.net/caffeine.html [fusionanomaly.net]
Caffeine can be used IN DNA yet another use, but digressing, the damage that could be caused by caffeine possibility replacing C/G/T in DNA with pseudo-A could be immense, but I am yet to here of a story that mentions Caffeine as the major cause of cancer, or another genetic-based disorder
A Potentially Lucrative Proposition… :-) (Score:2, Interesting)
We then learn later in the article that some areas possess frog population densities of up to "20,000 individuals an acre".
Now perhaps it is just me, but does this not sound as though it could be a quite lucrative prospect for a person with the appropriate amount of ingenuity and good old-fashioned entrepreneurial spirit... Just with some quick math, the potential industry of ridding the islands from the scourge of uninvited amphibians could be worth as much as $1.5 million per acre.
Of course, this is purely theoretical and such activities would hardly amount to such monetary windfalls, but it does make you think!!!
Re:A Potentially Lucrative Proposition… :-) (Score:2)
AS also outlined in the article, one guy caught 40 in a year... can you live off 3 grand?!
Thankfully the island I'm going to in two weeks (Kaua'i) is not infested.
Re:A Potentially Lucrative Proposition… :-) (Score:2)
Me, I'd be out there with a pressurized pesticide sprayer loaded up with Starbucks' finest!
Re:A Potentially Lucrative Proposition… :-) (Score:2)
I'll just train a few dogs, and voila one acre cleared. Believe me, if you're a frog or rat or whatever, getting away from a well trained dog is very difficult. Them dogs will just do it for fun.
I won't even have to cheat and breed more frogs like some crooks
Cheerio,
Link.
Frogs on Caffiene (Score:2, Funny)
One might think they've got a Hawaiian Frog techno mix running on repeat on the beaches.
sorry (Score:2)
"The federal regulations proved too burdensome."
Hello?! Aren't these regulations in place to prevent we-had-to-destroy-the-village-to-save-it syndrome?
Oh my god, I can't resist (Score:4, Funny)
Let's see if she notices.
"Croak!"
There you have it folks!
Ya, but caffeine really is not that good (Score:2)
Re:Ya, but caffeine really is not that good (Score:2)
Kintanon
In other news (Score:1)
It's not giving caffeine to them.... (Score:3, Funny)
Just think about it... All those mornings that you rely on coffee to go to work. All those mornings that you need something to keep you awake, and not sleep in until noon. It's what prevents you from making your head explode.
Get them hooked on coffee. Not just something in the water, but the frigging powdered kind. Kind of like a drug addict, where they inject it. Frogs are different though. It would diffuse right through their skin.
Then, when you have an army of frogs addicted to the funny powder, stop giving it to them, and see what they do.
Re:It's not giving caffeine to them.... (Score:2, Informative)
I would wonder if the frogs would set up rehab centers, or would they just take it cold turkey.
Seriously Caffeine withdrawal in frogs could be quite a interesting phenomena,
The website Neuroscience for Kids - Frogs and Caffeine [washington.edu] mentions that a overdose of caffeine is lethal to frogs.
I would only wonder how?
Medevo
Re:It's not giving caffeine to them.... (Score:2)
We all know that if you put a frog in a pot of water and heat it up slowly, the frog won't notice, and will boil to death.
Now you're telling me that if you put a frog in a pot of water with some nice fresh-roasted and fresh-ground coffee, and heat it up slowly, the frog will notice, but it just won't care. Cool! :-)
Meantime, I have visions of programmers on vacation in Hawaii sneaking out of the hotels at night to catch frogs and lick them in the same way that hippies and druggies lick toads for the bufotinin. (Except that the programmer gets paid $75 per frog for every "empty" frog he turns in ;-)
I'm the one in the frog suit... (Score:1)
No more drives to the coffee shop I'll just pull on a fake frog suit and pretend to tbe the world's biggest frog.
And then I'll be there king...
and once i've raised my army of super frogs "hopped" up on caffeine I will take over the world AHA HAHAHAHAHA!!!
In all serious though has no one thought what this will actually do to the surronding enviroment?
I live in southeren ontario Canada, recently we have had an insect infestation in the farmers' crops. So in order to control it we released thosands and thousands of geneticly enhanced lady bugs that would target the mites that were targeting the crops.
The mite problem is gone but now we have a infestation of super bugs that won't die. I have seen entire sides of apartment buildings coated with the things...In novemeber no less(when there shouldn't be any of the critters left).
My point here is when will we learn to stop screwing with mother nature...
Photos (Score:3, Informative)
Java anyone? *ribbit* (Score:1)
They can have all of ours!
powdered caffeine? (Score:1)
Caffeine can hurt you too! (Score:1)
The real solution is easy... (Score:1, Funny)
Frog Baseball
Re:The real solution is easy... (Score:3, Funny)
Obligatory Simpsons Reference. (Score:2)
Bart gets the boot in Australia [snpp.com] - after making a prank call, Bart arrives in Australia, unknowingly bearing a simple ordinary bullfrog, whose progeny then goes nuts and devastates the Australian continent.
Marge: We have them in America. They're called bullfrogs.
Clerk: What? That's an odd name. I'd have called them "chazzwazzers".
Ribbit. Not only are the Simpsons running out of ideas, they're now predicting the Future. Any more episodes with Al Gore in them? Look for the season finale! </weak joke>
Caffeine toxicity - material safety data (Score:3, Informative)
Apparently, you'd have to drink a lot of coffee to get a lethal dose. But it does seem to possible to kill yourself (or approach it) with caffeine pills.
Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org) [sethf.com]
Re:Caffeine toxicity - material safety data (Score:1)
Re:Caffeine toxicity - material safety data (Score:1)
2x LD-50 doesn't ensure death, it just makes it more likely. I'm no toxologist or anything but at least I've got a handle on statistics. I'd bet that lethal dose requirements tend to fall into skewed normal distributions.
Re:Caffeine toxicity - material safety data (Score:3, Funny)
-Benjamin
Re:Caffeine toxicity - material safety data (Score:2)
Frogs or birds, take your pick. (Score:2)
Coqui, the only frogs with no tadpoles (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe the lack of an intermediate stage has made this species even more hardy, and therefore more prevalent in Hawaii.
No matter what, the Coqui are there to stay in Hawaii. They will just have to get used to it.
Australian Cane Toads (Score:2, Informative)
They had a HUGE explosion of these things. This movie showed them in hoards. It also had this one scene with this hippie - the guy had a VW van and his hobby was to go around smashing these things. He would swerve the van from one side of the street to the other, running over the toads which would make a very satisfying pop. This hippie is the only thing I remember from high school biology.
So, my point is that these toads were introduced for an ecological reason (pest control), but apparently these guys didn't understand ecology all that well. Of course, this Hawaii thing is different since the frogs weren't introduced intentionally, but it seems toads/frogs have a talent for growing explosively.
smiley noses (Score:5, Funny)
Excess noses cost Internet providers billions annually. Consider that the noseless ":)" conveys as much information as ":-)" at two-thirds the cost in bandwidth.
Slashdot, as a pillar of the Internet community, stands to make a real difference in the fight against smiley noses. It would be great if it could act as a role model in this important struggle.
Everyone: please run your messages through the following perl script to remove excess noses:
#!/usr/bin/perl -w ;g ; BR>
print;
$_ = @ARGV ? shift @ARGV :
chomp;
s/([:;8B?|\%])[-o^]([\)\(|PB9oO\@0{Xx\*D&])/$1$2/
print "\n";
Note this is a beta version. It only handles one-line messages, and only "right-handed" smileys. Improvements are forthcoming, and patches are welcome.
Re:smiley noses (Score:2)
$_ = @ARGV ? shift @ARGV : <STDIN>;
And the "BR>" should just be a linebreak.
Re:patch (Score:2)
Re:smiley noses (Score:2)
Current plans for development are to test the contents of some of the more popular and respected smiley dictionaries for compliance.
Obviously, there are always going to be people who figure out a way to get around any denosing algorithms. But even a 95% success rate on real-world data will have an important and measurable impact on Internet traffic.
Invasive species a problem everywhere (Score:1)
Invasive species destroy biodiversity and alter ecosytems beyind thier ability to cope easily. Add to that the effect of human alteration and climate shift we are rapidly losing vital species and habitat. Unfortunatly there are no easy answers. Remember the SNL skit about "The Bat Problem?"
Now if I may be excused I have to go battle the kudzu [ua.edu], it grew another foot today.
Send them back to Puerto Rico (Score:1)
Thinkgeek? (Score:1)
Robotic antifrog sentry/hunter-killer (Score:1)
So these coquis are as loud as 90cB?
It sounds like a great excuse to build a robot that will hunt down noisy frogs.
A hammer would be a cheap and easy weapon, but the thought of focusing a tone burst that matches the resonant frequency of the frog (somewhere between 100Hz and 3000Hz) gets me excited.
Easier solutions. (Score:2)
Being a /.-er from PR ... (Score:2, Interesting)
Considering the fact that I am not an Hawaiian ecologist, I do not understand the dangers of the coquí's presence in Hawaii. Here, on its native island, it is harmless and it had been rumored that it couldn't survive anywhere else outside of PR. To think that it has survived in Hawaii must be exciting news for Puerto Rican ecologists
Yes, the coquís are cute and tiny and chirp like it's nobody's business. Their half female-attracting, half male-warning calls are not annoying. Raining season coming in, the night is filled with "co-QUI co-QUI" -- it really does make for a pleasant natural soundtrack.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Questionable Accuracy (Score:2, Informative)
According to this story, "There are no naturally occurring reptiles or terrestrial amphibians, no snakes, iguanas, toads or salamanders in Hawaii. Until the coqui arrived, it was a frog-free world."
Umm. No. It says the Coqui arrived around 1990. I wouldn't know about that. Nobody I know here has heard of these frogs. Perhaps the 40+ infestations claimed on Maui are simply places I don't go. HOWEVER...
No other reptiles? No amphibians, toad or frogs before 1990? Totally false. For one thing, these islands are famous for having Geckos. We've got hundreds of them right in our yard. There's more than one within 20 feet of me right now. And we have other salamander-like lizards here than geckos. I'm not a biologist. And I suppose the frogs or toads I played with as a kid 30 years ago weren't here either back then.
I don't know when or how frogs, toads, geckos, salamanders and such got here, but it was long before 1990. I'm sure there is some basis for truth in this story, but I've managed to escape hearing even one of these tens of thousands of 90-decibel frogs on Maui. That doesn't mean they aren't here, just that the story sure doesn't reflect any common knowledge here as far as I can tell after discussing this story with my friends.
The sad thing is... (Score:2)
No one here really seems to care about the invasion of the frogs. Hawaii is a lovely environment and is home to more than 10,000 species of plant and animal life found nowhere else in the world. It is blessed with having virtually every major ecological zone (the only one missing is permafrost-tundra, like think Antarctica) and was virtually isolated from everywhere else in the world, as the islands are at least two thousand miles away from any other large land mass.
That is, until we started to really live there, and now invasive species threaten many of the plants and wildlife that are unique to Hawaii.
Obligatory linkage for the karma-whoring:
Nature Conservancy [nature.org]
Google directory [google.com]
Carnivorous Caterpillars! [hawaii-forest.com]
There's a great deal to know and understand about the endangered species in Hawaii and the invasive species that threaten them. We have no snakes, or many other reptiles, for that matter. There are no scorpions, no tarantulas, none of that really vile stuff you find in other rainforests.
Let me get this straight... (Score:2)
The programmer's mecca.
3 tons of powdered caffeine, sitting in a warehouse? Why do I get the distinct feeling that I am going to be seeing ThinkGeek ads for this stuff?
Re:GRAMMAR (Score:2)
Nice try at trolling. I give it an E for effort.
Re:GRAMMAR (Score:1)
Re:GRAMMAR (Score:1)
NOT EPA's
From the
The EPA's application regulations
Actually the usage is correct, as the application regulations belong to the EPA, and as a result the possessive is the correct tense.
To be completely grammatically correct, the sentence should have read:
The application regulations of the EPA apparently proved too burdensome, and the stuff sits in a warehouse.
The A/C who decided to enlighten us with his immaculate grasp of the English language must be American, but at least his spelling was correct...
Re:That's okay, I will. (Score:1)
Just curious... (Score:2)
So rubbing a topical anaesthetic on a frogs head kills it?
And uhh.. why is it you are killing frogs? Serial killer in training?
Cats might eat "poisonous" frogs (Score:1)
There are several things that Australians found out about "cane toads". For a start the stench when you happen to kill one. Then there is the fact that "cane toads" are "poisonous". Many of the Australian indenginous fauna have been dying off because of their (failed) attempts to actually consume these things. Then there have been the cats and dogs that have died as well.
Re:Cats might eat "poisonous" frogs (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Cats might eat "poisonous" frogs (Score:2)