A thumb-sized toad army invades a village following heavy rain in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

A remote village in southwest China's Sichuan Province has witnessed a relentless battle between humans and toads since heavy rainfall brought a swarm of them to the village on Thursday.

The rain didn't stop until Thursday morning in Qingjiang Village, Dayi County in southwestern Sichuan Province. Villagers there all got cold-feet after waking up from their dreams only to find their house engulfed by black, thumb-sized toads, with many more arriving from outside. According to local residents, hundreds of thousands of toads were estimated to have landed out of rain-flooded nearby rivers and fields.

Out of sharp fear, people kept their doors deadly shut and seized any possible tools at hand, like brooms or dustpans, to fight the unwelcome invaders.

Fearful as they were, the villagers didn't really want to hurt the toads; simply to sweep them away and chase them back to the fields. Toads, as they know, eat pests and are quite beneficial to the growth of plants, and are thus highly valued.

Some villagers later found a trick that proved successful: hand-clapping. Toads would become frightened as long as they hear the sound of clapping hands, and would then retreat, hopping back into the field nearby.

Explaining this strange phenomenon, scientists say it may relate to the climate.

At present, it is a peak time for toads to reproduce. And there are two rivers surrounding the village. Moreover, there came a timely rain after a long drought, thus all toads became more active than usual.

Such analysis has been approved by the wildlife expert of Dayi County. The expert explained that the occurrence of such a massive number of toads was closely related to the climate, and posed no harm to villagers.

(CRI April 28, 2007)