Exploding Toads & Other Signs of the Apocalypse

The BBC reported Tuesday that thousands of toads in northern Germany are dying off due to a mysterious disease - they are exploding.

"You can see the animals crawling on the ground, swelling three and a half times their normal size, and then exploding," said German conservationist Werner Smolnik. The toads' entrails are then propelled over three feet, according to "baffled" scientists. Luckily, the amphibian apocalypse seemed to be confined to a "pond of death" in Hamburg's Altona district...

...at least until today, when the AP reported it had spread to Denmark. But at least now scientists have a theory, based on forensic analysis. Berlin veterinary surgeon Frank Mutschmann believes that hungry crows are pecking the livers right out of the unsuspecting toads, who then puff themselves up as a natural defense mechanism - "but when their livers are taken away and their stomachs are punctured, their blood vessels explode, their lungs collapse and the other organs come out." But the horror doesn't end there. Oh, no. "The toads burst, the entrails slide out. But the animal isn't immediately dead - they keep struggling for several minutes," says biologist Heidi Mayerhoefer. "It's horrible." Um... yeah.

Meanwhile, in Carroll, Iowa, "city officials are perplexed over a discovery of mysterious chunks of flesh that have been clogging up city water lines." Eek.