(CNN) – Rangers in northeastern Australia were amazed when they stumbled upon what may be the largest toad in history, which weighed nearly 6 pounds.
The 2.7-kilogram amphibian, dubbed “Toadzilla” by rangers, was found in Queensland’s Conway National Park last week when park officials were conducting track work, the state’s Department of Environment and Science said on social media.
in one tweet On Thursday, the department said rangers were “shocked to find a monster cane toad.”
Toadzilla has been removed by rangers as cane toads are destroying Australia’s native wildlife.
Queensland Department of Environment and Science/Portal
Ranger Kylee Gray said the team encountered the mammoth creature exiting their vehicle as they stopped to let a snake slide across the track.
“I reached down and grabbed the cane toad and couldn’t believe how big and heavy it was,” Gray said in a department statement on Friday.
“We christened it Toadzilla,” Gray said, adding that they worked quickly to remove it from the wild because a cane toad its size “will eat anything it can fit in its mouth.”
The toad was presumed to be female, as it usually grows larger than its male counterparts, and was returned to the rangers’ base, where it was weighed. Rangers say Toadzilla could set a new record.
Toadzilla was placed in a bucket of water for her monumental weigh-in.
Queensland Department of Environment and Science/Portal
The current Guinness World Record for the largest toad was set in 1991 by Prinsen, a pet toad in Sweden that weighed a whopping 2.65 kg.
Toadzilla have since been “euthanized due to the environmental damage they caused,” the department added in its tweet.
The Department for Environment and Science told CNN on Friday that she was sent to the Queensland Museum for further analysis.
Native to South America and mainland Central America, the cane toad was first introduced to Australia in 1935 as a biological control against field beetles. Instead, they became an invasive — and noxious — species that “has had a devastating impact on our native wildlife,” the department added.