Cane toads that have a personality to go boldly to places where no cane toad has gone before make the way for more timid toads to quickly take over new territories, according to Australian researchers.

Back in the 1930s, the cane toads were first introduced into Queensland and presently they are found as far south as Sydney and as far west as Kununurra.

Initially, these toads developed from the rainforests of South America and now have occupied some of the hottest and driest parts of the Australian continent.

A scientist had put the toads from a newly established population in the Northern Territory through various behavioural tests to know why cane toads continue to move into new and potentially hostile environments. The results show that some toads were bold and daring and some were shy and cautious.

"It is a pretty amazing situation that most frogs are stay-at-home creatures and don't really move too far from where they live, yet here we have got cane toads romping across the landscape", said study co-author Professor Rick Shine of the University of Sydney. Adding to it, he said if cane toads were all timid, then most probably they would still be sitting in Queensland.

To study how personality traits varied within a cane toad population, researches put Feeding stations in the field using artificial lights to draw attention of both insects as food and wild cane toads.

At some of the feeding stations, a single cane toad in a mesh enclosed space was placed by researchers whereas the other feeding stations were left empty. It allows the wild toads to decide and choose between an empty foraging site and one with another toad present.

Within two-hour period a total of 95 cane toads move towards the feeding station. There was mix between those happy to eat on their own and those that preferred another toad to be present.