Colorado River toad
The Colorado River toad is a large toad of the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It is famous for the toxic, mind-altering secretions it releases from glands in its skin when threatened. These secretions can be deadly if swallowed, so it should be left alone.1

Poder do veleno
A súa pel é velenosa. É perigoso tocalo, lambelo ou comelo.
Que fai o seu veleno?
The toad releases poison from glands in its skin, including the large parotoid glands behind the eyes. The poison contains psychoactive compounds, including 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenin, which affect the brain. It also contains digoxin-like cardiac glycosides, which act on the heart, and ingesting the poison can be fatal. In one reported case, a young woman who drank a tea made from toad preparation began vomiting and had difficulty breathing soon after, and died about two and a half hours later.1
Que perigoso é para as persoas?
Perigo para as persoas: GraveSe alguén o toca ou o come, hai que ir ao médico. As mortes son moi raras.The poison is potent enough to kill a grown dog, and dogs that attack toads have been paralysed or killed. Several cases of human poisoning from swallowing toad secretions or eggs have been reported, and at least one death from the ch'an su preparation has been recorded. The toad has also been linked to poisoning and at least one death from the use of related toad preparations as street drugs.1
Que fai cando ten medo?
When threatened, it releases toxins from glands in its skin.1
Se alguén o tocou ou o comeu
- Se alguén tocou un: lava ben as mans e non toques os ollos nin a boca. Se un neno ou unha mascota lambeu ou comeu un: chama ao centro de toxicoloxía ou ao teu número de emerxencias.
Chama sempre primeiro ao teu número de emerxencias (112, 000, 911). Isto son consellos xerais de primeiros auxilios, non consello médico. Primeiros auxilios básicos
Mantente a salvo
- Nunca toques, collas nin molestes un animal salvaxe, aínda que sexa pequeno e aínda que pareza durmido ou morto.
- Déixalle espazo. Se atopas un, mantén a calma, recúa amodo e déixao ir polo seu camiño.
- Se o tocaches ou o comiches: non esfregues os ollos nin a boca, lava as mans e busca axuda médica.
Non vai a por ti. O seu veleno só está aí para que ninguén o coma. Máis sobre como estar a salvo
En que lugar do mundo?
Que tamaño ten?
Canto mide?
mide coma 6 pezas de construción de xoguete en fila
podería percorrer 100 metros en 180 segundos (o humano máis rápido precisa 9,6)Que tamaño ten Colorado River toad comparado CONTIGO?
Só son contas no teu navegador. Non se garda nin se envía nada a ningures.
Que rápido é?
Datos
It is the only toad species in which bufotenin is present in large enough amounts to have a psychoactive effect.1
Raccoons have learned to pull a toad away from water by its back leg, turn it over and feed on its belly, which keeps them away from the poison glands.1
Unlike most vertebrates, it gets most of its water by absorbing it across its belly through a special area of skin called the seat patch.1
A female can lay up to 8,000 eggs.1
It is the largest toad in the United States, apart from the non-native cane toad.1
Desmontamitos
Mito: Licking or smoking the toad's secretions is a safe way to get high or to treat illness.
Verdade: Swallowing the secretions has caused poisonings and deaths. Claims about its therapeutic use are unverified, and the US National Park Service has warned people not to handle or lick the toad.1
Para expertos en pezoñas
- Nome científico
- Incilius alvarius
- Grupo
- Ras velenosas, sapos e tritóns
- Familia
- Bufonidae2
- Orde
- Anura
- Continentes
- América do Norte
- Crías
- Females lay eggs in ponds, slow-moving streams, temporary pools or man-made structures that hold water, and can lay up to 8,000 eggs in a long tube of jelly.1
- Como lle vai na natureza
- Listed as threatened in New Mexico and California. A June 2025 study found that persistent trapping in Mexico has decimated several populations and put the species at risk of extinction.1
- Perigo para as persoas
- 3 / 5: Grave3
De onde veñen os datos
- Colorado River toad (Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0))
- Incilius alvarius (iNaturalist): nomes e clasificación.
- Venom Wiki: o nivel de perigo, o tamaño típico e a velocidade estimada son nosos. Mira como os calculamos: Como valoramos o perigo.
Cada dato desta páxina ten un número que leva á súa fonte. Se nos equivocamos nalgo, sentímolo, somos fans dos animais, non unha revista científica. Dínolo en [email protected] e arranxarémolo.
Veleno na pel

Como recoñecelo