Toads have been exploding in the night in Hamburg.
Experts are apparently baffled why at least 1,000 amphibians have perished after their bodies swelled to bursting point and their entrails were propelled for up to a metre. Witnesses said they had seen toads swell to almost four times their normal size before they exploded.
The mystery has decimated the German city's toad population as well leaving toad parts rather unpleasantly scattered around parks and open spaces. The problem has been so severe in the Altona district of Hamburg that the open water there has been dubbed "the pond of death".
The AFP news agency reported on the toad explosions at the weekend and the news of them percolated through to the UK media today, with the Sun and various others picking the story up.
AFP reported that the deaths may have been caused by an unknown virus, a fungus that has infected the water, or by an the toads developing a violent defence mechanism to ward off crows that prey on them.
