Trail Off Tuesdays: The Exploding Toads of Hamburg

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A peaceful pond, a morning walk, and a horror scene no one expected: toads swelling, twitching, and then bursting along the water’s edge. We follow the 2005 Hamburg mystery from sensational headlines to a grounded, unsettling explanation that blends animal intelligence with fragile biology. What begins as a “Frog Plague” turns into a forensic journey through missing organs, precise wounds, and a defensive reflex gone catastrophically wrong.
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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:15):
Welcome back to Trail of Tuesdays, the little
detour where we wander down thestrangest paths of history.
Today's story takes us toHamburg, Germany.
To a quiet pond that became thescene of one of the most bizarre
mysteries ever to ripple throughthe natural world.

(00:38):
It started in the spring of 2005and for a few extraordinary
weeks, toads were exploding.
This is the story of theexploding toads of Hamburg.

(01:04):
It began near a pond in theHamburg's Altona district.
A peaceful green area surroundedby trees and walking paths where
locals would often stroll by thewater each morning.
But one day in April, theystarted noticing something

(01:27):
strange in their morning walks.
Dead toads everywhere.
But not just any natural death.
The toads had burst.
It was like a horror scene.
Toad bodies puffed up likeballoons and bellies split open

(01:48):
with entrails scattered aroundthe edges of the pond.
Some horrified witnesses evenclaimed to see it happen.
A toad swelling, twitching, andthen pop.
Over the course of a few days,over a thousand toads met the

(02:09):
same fate.
The press quickly gave it aname.
The Frog Plague.
When the story hit theheadlines, it spread like
wildfire.
Scientists, veterinarians, evenparanormal enthusiasts tried to
explain it.
Some theories made sense,blaming pollution and the

(02:33):
chemicals in the water causingthe toad's organs to bloat, or
potentially a virus or fungalinfection, some new amphibian
plague.
But of course, like with anystrange or unusual cases, the
stranger theories followed soonenough.
From acid rain, aliens, boredteenagers with fireworks.

(02:59):
All of them were discussed anddebated in newspapers and online
forums, each one more outlandishthan the last.
The only problem with all thosetheories?
Well, there were no signs ofburns or poison or even disease.
The explosions were described asclean.

(03:22):
No one, not even theenvironmental agencies, had ever
seen anything like it.
It was like a tiny amphibianapocalypse right in the middle
of Hamburg.

(03:45):
Finally, in all the madness andthe apocalyptical theories, a
local vet, Dr.
Franz Mushmann, decided toinvestigate.
He began collecting samples ofskin, organs, tissues, and
studying the remains under amicroscope.
What he found was strange, tosay the least.

(04:10):
The toad's livers were missing.
But not just missing in theexplosion.
There were signs they have beencleanly removed.
And with no other bite marks onthe rest of the body to suggest
an animal attack after theexplosion, the mystery only

(04:32):
deepened.
Who or what was stealing toadlyverizon Hamburg?
So the Toad Watch began.
And after days of observation, atheory started to take shape.
It was crows.

(04:53):
Dr.
Mushman realized that crows,which are known for being
intelligent and opportunisticbirds, had likely discovered a
new delicacy.
He theorized that they learnedto flip the toads onto their
backs and peck out specificallythe liver, which is known as one

(05:14):
of the richest organs innutrients.
He later explained that thetoads had identical circular
incisions, small enough to matcha bird's beak.
And once the liver was gone, thetoad's natural defense kicked in
and they puffed up their bodieswith air to look larger when

(05:36):
threatened.
But without an internalstructure to hold the organs in
place, the pressure built up,blood vessels ruptured, lungs
overexpanded, and the toadsliterally exploded.
When the theory was published,it made international headlines.

(05:59):
Many scientists accepted theCrow hypothesis as the best
explanation, and even theGuardian, BBC, and National
Geographic reported it.
But not everyone was entirelyconvinced.
Some scientists argued thatthere wasn't just enough direct
evidence, that no one hadactually seen the crows

(06:23):
attacking the toads, and thatthe idea rested mostly on
observation of the aftermath.
Others pointed out theenvironmental toxins, parasites,
or even fungal infections couldhave played a role, and that the
timing might have simply madethe crow theory look like the

(06:45):
only answer.
Still, most agreed it was thebest explanation available.
It was a rare glimpse of howanimal behavior can intersect
with physiology in the strangestway imaginable.
The exploding toad mystery had,more or less, been solved.

(07:09):
After the cause was revealed,the explosions stopped almost as
suddenly as they began.
Maybe the crows moved on, ormaybe the surviving toads
learned faster than we think.
Either way, the pond went quietagain, and in the end, it was

(07:31):
just nature being clever, messy,and a little explosive.
That's it for today's Trail ofTuesdays on the curious case of
Hamburg exploding toads.

(07:52):
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It's where the trail keepsgoing.
Until next time, stay safe andstay curious.