Dolphins Seem to Use Toxic Pufferfish to Get High

Post #427,568 by lincoln 2/19/19 2:49:28 PM 2/19/19 2:49:28 PM Reply	Dolphins Seem to Use Toxic Pufferfish to Get High Humans aren't the only creatures that suffer from substance abuse problems. Horses eat hallucinogenic weeds, elephants get drunk on overripe fruit and big horn sheep love narcotic lichen. Monkeys' attraction to sugar-rich and ethanol-containing fruit, in fact, may explain our own attraction to alcohol, some researchers think. Now, dolphins may join that list. Footage from a new BBC documentary series, "Spy in the Pod," reveals what appears to be dolphins getting high off of pufferfish. Pufferfish produce a potent defensive chemical, which they eject when threatened. In small enough doses, however, the toxin seems to induce "a trance-like state" in dolphins that come into contact with it, the Daily News reports https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dolphins-seem-to-use-toxic-pufferfish-to-get-high-180948219/ Satan (impatiently) to Newcomer: The trouble with you Chicago people is, that you think you are the best people down here; whereas you are merely the most numerous. - - - Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar" 1897
Post #427,571 by Andrew Grygus 2/19/19 4:05:08 PM 2/19/19 4:05:08 PM Reply	Elephants get drunk on overripe fruit? In India, they are notorious for breaking into breweries. sucking the tanks, and then trampling people.
Post #427,572 by Ashton 2/19/19 4:30:48 PM 2/19/19 4:30:48 PM Reply	It's because ethanol--a tiny molecule--affects myriad brain loci and pathways, too numerous to analyze with much confidence ('causality' and like that) whereas the Fun-stuff ingested by millions of homo-saps --with BIG molecules--target a (bearable number of) pathways which Can be deduced.. at least that's the tl;dr best treatment logic of the syndrome-deciphering ..which I've found to date ;^>
Post #427,579 by static 2/19/19 8:29:11 PM 2/19/19 8:29:11 PM Reply	A number of birds get tanked on overripe fruit. Here in Oz, Rainbow Lorikeets are known for it. Wade.
Post #427,609 by scoenye 2/20/19 6:28:41 PM 2/20/19 6:28:41 PM Reply	Lemurs + millipedes https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/lemurs-get-high-on-their-millipede-supply When millipedes are picked up, their defense strategy is to curl up into a coil. Most millipedes also have paired glands in their legs that secrete a toxic combination of chemicals, including cyanide, which effectively deters most predators. But it does not dissuade the black lemur, the stoner of the animal kingdom. After the lemur bites the millipede, it sprays its toxic secretion, which the lemur then rubs all over its fur. Research suggests that there is a practical purpose to this: the benzoquinone secretion functions as a natural pesticide and wards off malaria-carrying mosquitos. The secretion also acts as a narcotic, which causes the lemur to salivate profusely and enter a state of intoxication.
Post #427,612 by dmcarls 2/20/19 9:45:52 PM 2/20/19 9:45:52 PM Reply	Reminds me of these guys... "Components of bufotoxin are toxic to many animals; even human deaths have been recorded due to the consumption of cane toads." but... "...Opossums of the genus Didelphis likely can eat cane toads with impunity. Meat ants are unaffected by the cane toads' toxins, so are able to kill them. The cane toad's normal response to attack is to stand still and let its toxin kill the attacker, which allows the ants to attack and eat the toad." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toad

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