Cane toads

What we know

Cane toads are in GTA 6 because Rockstar set out to copy Florida's invasive wildlife, not only its famous animals. Game Informer's own summary of its cover story says native species such as flamingos and alligators "will coexist alongside invasive creatures such as green iguanas, cane toads, feral cats, and even rhesus macaque monkeys". IGN and Sportskeeda list cane toads too, and Notebookcheck repeats the same group of invasives.

No trailer or screenshot has shown a cane toad yet, so everything about how they look and behave in the game is still unknown.

Why a toad made the cut

In real Florida, the cane toad (also called the bufo, giant or marine toad) is a nonnative, invasive amphibian, according to the state's wildlife agency, FWC:

Fact	What FWC says
How it arrived	Brought in to control sugar cane pests in the 1930s and 40s; today's toads probably descend from importers' escapes and releases in the 1950s and 60s
Where it lives	Central and south Florida, generally south of the I-4 corridor, in yards, around buildings and near canals and ponds
Size	6 to 9 inches, about twice the native southern toad
Why people worry	Its skin glands make a milky toxin (bufotoxin); a pet that bites one can die in as little as 15 minutes without treatment

Our take: the cane toad is the best evidence of how far Rockstar went with Florida. A studio chasing spectacle stops at alligators and sharks. Adding the backyard toad every Florida dog owner dreads is the kind of detail that makes Leonida feel lived in, and it fits Michael Kane's line to Game Informer about "accurately researched" animals. For players it probably matters most as a checklist entry. Look where FWC finds them: suburban yards, canals and ponds at night, not deep wilderness. Rockstar has not said whether animals affect each other, so a dog licking a toad is a scene we would love to see rather than one we expect.

What to watch for at launch

• Where cane toads appear: suburbs, canals, Grassrivers, or all three.
• Whether they can be studied for the animal checklist.
• Whether the other invasives Game Informer named, green iguanas included, live in the same places.