Turns out bin chickens have been honing their culinary prowess…

The Australian white ibis, (un)affectionately known as a bin chicken, has earned quite a reputation over the years for being one of Australia’s most hated animals due to its unwavering commitment to stealing food (sometimes straight out of your unsuspecting hand) and leaving a trail of rubbish wherever it wanders.

Yet it seems the humble bin chicken may just have vindicated itself, in a case where two enemies collide: the bin chook and the poisonous cane toad. Cane toads have long been a pest in Australia, devastating local wildlife with their ability to secrete venom from their skin.

Bin chicken pic.twitter.com/dWZy1Hnl8o

— A J Spedding (@AJSpedding) November 14, 2022

Now, scientists have discovered that the ibis has become their unlikely nemesis, having developed their own method – the “stress and wash” method – for being able to safely gobble down the toads. According to Emily Vincent, from the environment charity Watergum, this involves throwing the toads up in the air (in order to stress them out and release the toxins), before either wiping them down on wet grass or rinsing them in a creek to get rid of said toxins. Genius.

It’s estimated that there are around 2 billion cane toads in Australia, yet according to Vincent, for every female toad that is removed (or eaten), there are 70,000 less new cane toads. This new development is a sign that native animals are starting to adapt to the toads’ wily ways.

As it turns out, bin chickens have been doing God’s work all along.