Rating: /5
The greyback cane beetle is a native Australian beetle. It lays its eggs in the soil, and its larvae hatch and feed on sugarcane roots, killing or stunting the plant’s growth. In adulthood, the beetles eat the leaves of the sugarcane. Sugar was one of Australia’s major exports, so these beetles threatened the economy.
In the 1920s, Puerto Rican farmers used the cane toad as a successful pest control. Entomologist Raquel Dexter wrote a research paper in 1932 that demonstrated this effect, which led to American entomologist Cyril Pemberton introducing the cane toad to Hawaii in the early 1930s.
On June 22nd, 1935, Australia imported 102 cane toads from Hawaii to Gordonvale. Within two years, they had multiplied to around 62 thousand. As of 2011, their population was at over 200 million. While the cane toad adapted to their new surroundings, an obvious problem with this solution arose: the beetle could fly, and the toads could not. So far, we have no substantial proof that the cane toad has affected the cane beetle population in Australia.
In 1945, Australia introduced the pesticide Gammexane, which finally killed the cane grub and beetle. However, the cane toad remained.
The documentary interviews farmers, experts, and residents to understand the situation. It does so primarily from the perspective of the cane toad.
To create the effect of looking up from a cane toad’s point of view, DP Jim Frazier developed a set of lenses that created the appearance of a massive depth of field, allowing foreground and background images to be in focus. Panavision picked up the lenses and sold them as Frazier lenses. They’re still widely used in Hollywood films and nature documentaries.
Though the film talks about people who regularly kill cane toads, director Mark Lewis made sure to avoid killing any toads. Of course, we see dead cane toads, and we watch cane toads eat all sorts of weird shit. They’ll eat ANYTHING smaller than them, including other toads, which has been an ecological disaster for Australia.
The subject is already fascinating, but this doc makes it fun without abandoning academic rigor. Highly recommended!