watch your back

from Discover magazine, January 2006, p. 25 ...

"A reputation for elegance and order in Hamburg, Germany was fractured in April [2005] by an alarming outbreak of exploding toads. Local amphibians swelled up to triple their ordinary size, then burst -- audibly and always at night -- with enough force to propel their parts up to three feet...all the animals had curiously identical incisions in their midsections. Further inspection revealed the cause: Aggressive crows had developed a taste for toads' livers and were plucking them out in lightning-quick strikes. The toads had apparently tried to frighten off the predators by puffing themselves up, and the crow-beak punctures had caused the toads' blood vessels and lungs to rupture...The residents of Hamburg remain on guard. Two years ago, a flock of crows attacked joggers in a city park, pecking at one woman's head as though under the direction of Alfred Hitchcock."