Cane toads take a ride on python after thunderstorm in northern Australia, video goes viral

The viral video was shot by Paul Mock of Kununurra in the far north of Western Australia after a heavy thunderstorm.

Image Courtesy: Andrew Mock/Rwitter

SYDNEY: A bizarre video of ten cane toads taking a ride on a python to escape a thunderstorm in Western Australia has come to fore. 

The video was shot by Paul Mock of Kununurra in the far north of Western Australia after a heavy thunderstorm on Sunday night.

Interestingly, both Paul Paul Mock and his brother Andrew were at home with their daughters in the remote West Australian town of Kununurra, when a large storm dumped almost 70mm of rain into their dam.

Concerned that the dam and spillway might break its banks, Paul Mock ventured outside in the middle of the lightning and rain and he spotted a bizarre thing - 10 cane toads riding the back of a 3.5m python.

Shortly after the thunderstorm hit the region, the animals began to escape an overflowing dam on the Mock's property when the toads came up with the novel form of transport.

After filming the bizarre video, Paul shared it with his brother Andrew, who then posted them online after which they became viral.

68mm just fell in the last hour at Kununurra. Flushed all the cane toads out of my brothers dam. Some of them took the easy way out - hitching a ride on the back of a 3.5m python. pic.twitter.com/P6mPc2cVS5 — Andrew Mock (@MrMeMock) December 30, 2018

According to amphibian experts, the toads were trying to mate with python as thousands of the invasive pest were flushed out by rising waters in Kununurra.

Mock’s brother Andrew posted a photograph of the sight to Twitter, prompting horror, amazement, and jokes about the outback Uber.

Cane toads are a damaging pest in Australia’s tropical north, with their apparently unstoppable march from east to west over the past few decades invading communities and devastating ecosystems and native species, which often die after eating the unfamiliar and very toxic invaders.