Bufo alvarius: the Sonoran Desert toad, its secretion, its conservation and the law

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The Sonoran Desert toad is a large, nocturnal desert amphibian that has become famous for one molecule in its skin. This guide covers the animal itself, the chemistry of what it secretes, why “toad DMT” is a misleading phrase, the conservation and welfare concerns researchers have published, how it differs from the cane toad, and where 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenine stand in Canadian law. Each factual paragraph ends with an evidence label.

What is Bufo alvarius?

Bufo alvarius is the name under which the Sonoran Desert toad appears in older papers, including a well-known 1994 study (Weil and Davis, 1994). Current research uses Incilius alvarius (Luccioni et al., 2025), and reviews often give both, as in “Bufo alvarius (Incilius alvarius)” (Reckweg et al., 2022). A veterinary study calls it the Colorado river toad (Wilkins et al., 2026). All of these names refer to one species. Evidence: established.

It is found mainly in the Sonoran Desert region of southern Arizona in the United States and Sonora in Mexico. These are large toads, native to the United States, that eat a variety of invertebrates and occasionally vertebrates. When approached by a predator, they sit and puff themselves up (Luccioni et al., 2025). Evidence: established.

A 2021 overview on Chacruna, a psychedelic-education site, adds more natural history. It describes the species as the largest native toad in the United States, reaching up to 20 cm long, with a white wart at each corner of the mouth. The toads are active from late May to September, mostly in the summer rainy season, nocturnal in the hot months, and underground for the rest of the year. Mating is triggered by rain, and they may live at least 10 years (Ermakova, 2021). This is an expert essay, not a peer-reviewed paper. Evidence: preliminary.

What is in “toad venom”, chemically?

Like other toads, the Sonoran Desert toad releases a mix of toxins from its parotoid glands, the large glands behind the eyes, and from other glands when threatened (Luccioni et al., 2025). The secretion is often called toad venom, though strictly a venom is injected and this is not. Its best-known component is 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine). A 2025 study describes the species as the only animal known to secrete it as a chemical defence; the other toads sampled alongside it did not (Luccioni et al., 2025). Evidence: established.

It is a mixture, not one compound. A 2022 review lists heart-active toxins called bufadienolides, adrenaline and noradrenaline, serotonin, bufotenine and several related indole compounds, plus sterols. Whether any of these add to or change the effects of 5-MeO-DMT is unknown (Reckweg et al., 2022). Evidence: established for the list; unresolved for how the parts interact.

5-MeO-DMT was first described in the toad’s skin in the 1960s, in work by Erspamer and colleagues (Villa, 2023). How the toad comes to have it is still unknown. A 2025 field study in Arizona found it in every Sonoran Desert toad sampled and not in the other toads living alongside them. Their diets were similar, so the authors argue the toad makes it itself or with help from a microbe (Luccioni et al., 2025). Evidence: preliminary, from one study.

Is it a “DMT toad”? 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenine vs DMT

No. All three molecules are tryptamines, and they share one skeleton: an indole ring (a fused pair of carbon rings, one containing nitrogen) with a two-carbon chain ending in a nitrogen that carries two methyl groups. They differ by one group at position 5 of the ring. N,N-DMT has nothing there and its formula is C12H16N2 (PubChem, DMT). Bufotenine has a hydroxyl group there, C12H16N2O (PubChem, bufotenine). 5-MeO-DMT has a methoxy group, C13H18N2O (PubChem, 5-MeO-DMT). Evidence: established.

The small change matters in the body. 5-MeO-DMT binds most strongly at the serotonin 5-HT1A receptor, while DMT acts mainly at 5-HT2A, and reviews describe 5-MeO-DMT as producing relatively few visual effects (Ermakova et al., 2022). The body converts some 5-MeO-DMT into bufotenine through the liver enzyme CYP2D6 (Reckweg et al., 2022). Our 5-MeO-DMT vs DMT guide compares the two in depth. Evidence: established.

So why does “DMT toad” circulate? Partly because toad secretions as a group are linked with all three. A 2023 study states, in general terms, that the skin and parotoid glands of certain toads accumulate DMT, 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenine, along with poisonous steroids; its abstract does not say which species hold which compound (Chen et al., 2023). For the Sonoran Desert toad, the defining compound is 5-MeO-DMT. For where N,N-DMT itself turns up in nature, see where does DMT come from in nature. Evidence: established.

How did the toad become famous?

Recently, and through print. Reviews trace its popularity to a 1984 booklet, Bufo alvarius: The Psychedelic Toad of the Sonoran Desert, and find no conclusive historical evidence of Indigenous use of these toads for psychoactive purposes before it (Ermakova et al., 2022). A 2023 paper argues that commercial “spirituality, wellness, and adventurism” around the toad have spread mistaken or exploitative stories of ancient Indigenous use (Villa, 2023). Evidence: established that no conclusive evidence of earlier use exists.

The 1994 paper by Weil and Davis had a historical question. Anthropologists had speculated that ancient Mesoamerican peoples used the cane toad as a ritual intoxicant. The authors rejected the cane toad because its venom is too toxic, proposed the Sonoran Desert toad as a more likely candidate, and noted that its venom is known to be toxic when swallowed. Their experiments, by a different route, are not described here (Weil and Davis, 1994). Evidence: established for what the paper reports; the ancient-use idea is unresolved.

Is the Sonoran Desert toad endangered?

Not on paper, but the paper is old. A 2022 review notes the toad is not listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List, the global register of threatened species, but that this rests on an assessment from 2004. The authors argue that demand for the secretion could harm the species through habitat invasion, excessive handling of toads, amphibian trafficking and black-market dynamics (Reckweg et al., 2022). We could not open the IUCN record itself. Evidence: preliminary; this is the authors’ argument.

Field researchers report the pressure directly. The 2025 diet study states that growing demand has resulted in “widespread illegal toad poaching”, and it published its site locations only approximately “due to conservation concerns”. That team worked under state scientific collecting licences, released every toad where it was found, and killed none (Luccioni et al., 2025). Evidence: established for the authors’ statements; the scale of poaching is unmeasured.

Welfare is a separate concern from numbers. The Chacruna overview argues that taking secretion from a toad, even when it is released alive, is a stressful event that leaves it without its chemical defence, and that stress can affect reproduction, immune function and growth. It adds that moving toads away from where they were found could be fatal (Ermakova, 2021). The 2023 paper notes that few conservation-focused studies of the toad exist, and most were crowdfunded (Villa, 2023). Evidence: preliminary.

Researchers have also proposed taking the animal out of the research picture. The 2022 review argues that using synthetic 5-MeO-DMT in research would protect the toad and give full control over the substance studied, whereas the secretion is a variable mixture (Reckweg et al., 2022). Our 5-MeO-DMT vs DMT article covers the clinical research. Evidence: established for the review’s argument.

How is it different from the cane toad, and is cane toad poison dangerous?

The cane toad, Rhinella marina, was formerly called Bufo marinus. It is a different species. In tropical Australia it is an invasive animal whose toxins fatally poison native predators such as freshwater crocodiles (Aiyer et al., 2022). Its poison contains cardiac glycosides called bufadienolides (Santos et al., 2022). It is also the toad that Weil and Davis rejected as an ancient intoxicant because of its toxicity (Weil and Davis, 1994). Evidence: established.

Dogs are the main documented victims. A veterinary review says that a dog’s mouth contact with cane toad secretion can carry a high fatality rate without early, appropriate treatment. Signs appear almost at once: heavy drooling with gut, breathing and nervous-system signs, and less often severe heart-rhythm problems (Johnnides et al., 2016). Evidence: established.

The Sonoran Desert toad poisons dogs too. A 2026 study reviewed 208 dogs seen at four emergency veterinary hospitals in Arizona between 2007 and 2010 for suspected exposure. Most cases happened in summer, and 75% during a monsoon. Nervous-system signs appeared in 87.5% of dogs, breathing signs in 76.9% and heart signs in 74.5%. With veterinary care, 206 of the 208 survived. The authors describe the syndrome as similar to cane toad poisoning and stress starting treatment as soon as possible (Wilkins et al., 2026). Evidence: established, from one retrospective study.

Do people really lick toads? The myth

“Toad licking” is mostly a media creation. A 1993 paper describes a wave of coverage between 1988 and 1992, across the United States, Canada, Central and South America and Australia, that created “a frenzy of misinformation” about a supposed drug craze. The author argues that media exposure helped turn a fairly obscure activity into a perceived epidemic (Lyttle, 1993). Evidence: established for the media analysis.

The chemistry is no reassurance either. Toad secretions contain heart-active toxins (Reckweg et al., 2022), the Sonoran Desert toad’s venom is described as toxic when swallowed (Weil and Davis, 1994), and cane toad secretion can kill dogs that mouth it (Johnnides et al., 2016). Putting any toad in or near the mouth is a poisoning risk, not a shortcut to anything. Evidence: established.

Are 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenine legal in Canada?

They are not named in the main schedule. We read Schedule III of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act on 20 October 2026, in the consolidation current to 30 September 2026. It lists N,N-DMT and its salts as item 7, and psilocin and psilocybin as items 11 and 12, but neither 5-MeO-DMT nor bufotenine appears there by name. Neither appears elsewhere in the Act’s text we searched (Justice Laws, CDSA). Evidence: established for what the text says.

The restricted-drug schedule of the newer Controlled Substances Regulations lists DMT but not 5-MeO-DMT or bufotenine (Justice Laws, SOR/2025-242). Health Canada’s drug-surveillance site uses 5-MeO-DMT as its example of a “new psychoactive substance”: not currently controlled under the Act, with its sale regulated under the Food and Drugs Act (Health Canada, Health Infobase; page modified 19 March 2026). Evidence: established.

“Not named” does not mean legal to sell, tested or safe. We found no published Health Canada position on bufotenine, and laws change; check the official texts. In the United States, 5-MeO-DMT has been in Schedule I since 2009 (Ermakova et al., 2022). Wildlife and trafficking laws that protect the toad are outside this article. For DMT itself, see is DMT legal in Canada. This is general information, not legal advice. Evidence: unresolved for bufotenine’s status in practice.

What is still unknown?

• How the Sonoran Desert toad makes 5-MeO-DMT: by itself, through a microbe, or some other way (Luccioni et al., 2025).
• How large its populations are now; the IUCN assessment that reviews cite dates from 2004 (Reckweg et al., 2022).
• How much poaching is actually happening, and with what effect on local populations.
• Whether the other compounds in the secretion change the effects of 5-MeO-DMT (Reckweg et al., 2022).
• Whether anyone used these toads for their psychoactive properties before 1984; reviews find no conclusive evidence (Ermakova et al., 2022).

For the wider family of molecules, start with what is DMT. For the mushroom side of the same chemistry, read is there DMT in magic mushrooms?.

Shroomverse sells mushroom products. This article is general information about the Sonoran Desert toad’s natural history, chemistry, conservation and legal status. It is not medical, legal or purchasing advice, and it does not recommend any product.