Leemurs provoke centipedes to make them excrete their defensive toxin, but then the lemurs just use that toxin to get high and repel mosquitos.
105The word just is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.
Get high and repel mosquitos?
Sign me up!
38
And there are monkeys that steal drinks from beach resorts.
72What's really interesting is that study was made and the distribution of social drinkers, nice drunks, mean drunks, etc, roughly matches that of the humans.
49I mean it's not really that surprising. We are pretty similar to apes (and maybe monkeys?) socially.
3
And dolphins like to kick puffer fish around to get high
70
This is only a reenactment
115First time I laughed out loud today. Thanks! 😀
22Thanks for clarifying. At first I mistook it for a photograph.
14
Puff, puff, pass.
6
Jaguars actually eat the leaves of b. capii, which acts as a MAOI in the Ayahuasca brew.
While there is some discussion that the harmala alkaloids in b. capii might also be slightly psychoactive in high doses, the actual main compound in Ayahuasca is DMT, which is certainly very psychoactive, but not bioavailable when consumed orally without a MAOI. Unless the jaguars have figured out how to combine the two and/or brew ayahuasca, I strongly doubt that's their intention and that they'd get comparable effects.
I think the idea stems from the BBC show Weird Nature showing a jaguar eating yage leaves in episode 6, "Peculiar Potions".
I'm not really sold on how well that content was researched.
57B. caapi is called ayahuasca, as well as being an ingredient in the brew with the same name, so the image is not technically wrong.
14Sure. In my opinion, however, the overall context of the image does imply the jaguar enjoys similar effects to those clearly requiring the presence of DMT, as that is what is most people commonly associate with ayahuasca.
It's a bit of a "look at all those animals getting high, this jaguar is even talking to machine elves in the 19th dimension" kinda thing, where - if I remember correctly - they actually consume the leaves for digestive purposes.
Again, the leaves do have an effect, e. g. they apparently act as an SSRI (that's how common antidepressants work) and we can't be absolutely sure about their effect on cats (catnip certainly has some effect on cats we don't readily enjoy), so I can't dismiss the notion of jaguars seeking them out for that reason as well.
8The mental images of the consequences of running into, and then having to fight, a jaguar who’s high on ayahuasca is both hilarious and terrifying.
„Bro, chill out! The strawberry fractals are a mere figment of your imagination and can’t hurt you.“
„CHRAOW! CHRAOWOW!! Satayskewers!“
7
Came here for this, I was looking forward to having a Jaguar shaman for my aya ceremony but I guess that's off now
8
I remember reading that the Sami people used to drink the piss of a reindeer that had eaten fly agaric/fly amanita mushrooms since even though they're poisonous, most of the poison gets left in the reindeer while the nice hallucinogenic stuff passes through. Wikipedia put it a bit differently:
Patrick Harding describes the Sami custom of processing the fly agaric through reindeer.
Processing does sound nicer.
36I remember reading about this too (cannot remember where exactly. It was a long time ago) and how that practice helped shape the idea of Santa's flying reindeer.
3
"Ualabis"? Is that supposed to be "wallabies"?
As best I can tell from searching, that's kind of the Spanish word for "wallabies" (translate gives "ualabies"). Seems like a weird choice.
33The ulabis doesn't really seem to fit the infographic.
Eating opium plants when food is scarce doesn't really fall under the "drug use" category as it seems like it would have to be done.
The other uses were chosen
28What? No way bats can fly under influence! They are not above the law.
27Why is he running, Dad?
Because we have to chase him
3They even make those ads with images from accidents, saying "if you drink, don't fly".
1That's why they fly upwards into international space first, duh.
1
Meanwhile the Siberian Nomad off to the side waiting for whichever reindeer that gets the shrooms to take a piss 👁️👄👁️
26I am not sure if I am scared of a high jaguar or want to pet it. Maybe both?
Jaguar to his buddy: "Dude, I was so baked I let a hairless monkey pet me. I got the munchies though, so I ate him."
24This is documentary video of animals on the savannah eating fermented marula is great
the hung over warthog is so relateable!
18I was going to recommend the movie this is from, "Animals are Beautiful People"! It's an older Disney produced documentary from the 70s I think. They put a comedic twist on the narraration and add plenty of cartoon sound affects throughout the film
2I do not recommend it. Firstly, it's not a Disney movie. It was made by a white South African in South Africa during apartheid.
A lot of it is just made up and some of it is clearly animal abuse. There's no question that a weaver bird nest was set on fire for the movie.
The elephant thing isn't even true. It's staged with creative editing.
https://www.krugerpark.co.za/krugerpark-times-3-8-elephant-myth-22760.html
7
Humans: hold me beer, joint, shrooms, cactus, and chemistry set
16I bet other animals would do the same if they weren't getting high all the time and could figure it out for themselves.
4Oh, heck yeah!
2
Is there a reason we haven't tried this narcotic fungi?
Shrooms are great, why not try other 'gi?
13Humans actually do, but they do it by drinking the reindeer piss after the reindeer have eaten it.
16I imagine it's either there's a chemical in the new fungi that specifically makes the rams high but not us or there is something in there that doesn't affect them but is toxic to us
8Based on a cursory Google search with the terms "bighorn sheep"+"Psychoactive fungi" it would seem they are referring to rumors of a psychoactive lichen that have not been formally identified.
-secondly, you don't want to eat Amanita Muscaria aka fly agaric mushrooms unless you have thorough knowledge of what you're doing. It contains a hepatotoxic compound (hence the deer piss reference in someone else's comment) -and it should not be confused with the Psilocybin containing mushrooms AKA magic mushrooms. They do different things in the brain—The more you know 🌈 🌟
1We likely have. Since the poster was very vague i'd argue that what the bighorn sheep eat was probably some mushroom from the psilocybe genus aka "magic mushrooms". —What the reindeer eat is a very different mushroom called Amanita Muscaria aka fly agaric aka toadstool.
It's a bit of a stretch to call A. Muscaria "hallucinogenic" though, because as far as drugs go, the psychoactive ingredient muscimol, doesn't really fall into the same class as Psilocybin. It's more accurately referred to as a 'deliriant.' It also can cause liver damage due to it containing a chemical known as Ibotenic acid. That's why legendarily people collected the urine of reindeer because the reindeers' liver already processed out the ibotenic acid.
If you'd like to know more Hamilton's Pharmacopeia did a whole episodes on A. Muscaria and Psilocybe mushrooms respectively.
0
There’s an urban legend that koalas spend their entire lives drunk because the eucalyptus leaves they subsist on ferment inside them, though maybe that’s just because they look a bit dopey.
12Amarula logo. Not a bad liquor at all.
9And wasps! They get drunk and aggressive in years with lots of overripe fruits.
8What about the birds that get drunk off of fermented cherries and smash into a stuff? We need to do something about these FWIs or nobody will be safe.
8How can jaguars consume ayahuasca if it is a beverage containing various ingredients that work together to be potent? What do they actually consume?
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogen commonly made by the prolonged decoction of the stems of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub, although hundreds of species are used in addition or substitution (See "Preparation" below). P. viridis contains N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a highly psychedelic substance. Although orally inactive, B. caapi is rich with harmala alkaloids, such as harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine (THH), which can act as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOi). This halts the liver and gastrointestinal metabolism of DMT, allowing it to reach the systemic circulation and the brain, where it activates 5-HT1A/2A/2C receptors in frontal and paralimbic areas.
Do they consume Psychotria viridis leaves and does the DMT work this way?
8Thanks. That was a bit too anecdotal for me so I actually searched around a bit more. Didn't find much but at least this one review article:
https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/pdf/10.1055/a-1586-1665.pdf
Banisteriopsis caapi (Spruce ex Griseb.) C. V. Morton (Malpighiaceae): jaguar Some Amazonian people credit their uses of Banisteriopsis caapi, also widely known as ‘ayahuasca,’ from watching jaguars [14]. In the Amazonian rainforest, jaguars have been filmed gnawing on the bitter roots, bark and leaves of this plant, after which they appear dazed, rolling on their backs (www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqGDv0KCJl8). A similar behavior reported in many felid species, including domestic cats, is the frenzy induced by catnip (Nepeta cataria L.) or silver vine (Actinidia polygama [Siebold & Zucc.] Planch. ex Maxim.), which are reported to also have mosquito-and bedbug-repellent activities [54, 55].
[...]
Jaguarsʼ ingestion of ayahuasca can tentatively be classified as Mode 3 self-medication, for many of the same reasons given above, or possibly Mode 4 if evidence were available to show jaguars using the plant were doing so directly for its anthelmintic properties. However, more detailed information is needed to further understand the context of jaguars and other animals consuming plants with hallucinogenic properties by; for example, do they hunt afterwards, or do they ingest plants when parasite levels are high, and does it subsequently lower these levels? The plantʼs properties could promote alertness or simply be a byproduct of Jaguarsʼ hedonic attraction to the plant, with the functional value being its antiparasitic properties. These pharmacological properties lend support to the functional aspects of the plant for jaguars, but more work needs to be done to understand the possible adaptive value of hallucinogen ingestion in animals.
Although the presented evidence is again this same short, very heavily edited video of a jaguar supposedly tripping on the yage vine.
And regarding the effect on or the reasons of the jaguar, we apparently don't know and how could we, if all the evidence is this one short clip already suggesting what it is doing? Not very satisfying I must say.
ETA: OK, so I dug a bit deeper as seen in my other comment. Apparently this vine isn't even really psychoactive: "The harmala alkaloids are not especially psychedelic, even at higher dosages, when hypnagogic visions, alongside vomiting and diarrhea, become the main effect." So, what are the jaguars tripping on then? Maybe they aren't! Maybe they use it for its purgative effects? This seems all extremely sketchy to me. I don't think we can definitely say that jaguars are using these vines for their psychoactive effects and saying that they are tripping on ayahuasca is definitely wrong.
1
Just a guess, but carnivores usually have extra potent stomach acids. Maybe there is a different chemical reaction that activates the 'DMT' effect in a different but similar way?
7Apparently the jaguars don't eat the DMT containing shrub P. viridis, but this other ingredient in ayahuasca called yage (Banisteriopsis caapi) that does not contain DMT (see the other response to my last comment).
Harmine, 0.31–8.43% Harmaline, 0.03–0.83% Tetrahydroharmine, 0.05–2.94% These alkaloids of the beta-carboline class act as monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOIs).
So, no psychoactive substance, right??
Maybe the jaguars are not actually tripping but are just using it for their metabolism?
MAOIs are also used as antidepressants in humans because they inhibit the metabolism of monoamine compounds such as serotonin and norepinephrine.. Maybe the jaguars are going for this?
1
the fuck is a ualabi.
(Bad example if they mean wallaby, opium is an invasive species and they only eat it out of desperation. A better one would be the chronically addled eucalyptic meth head that is the koala)
8[off topic]
Some believe that beer was the trigger to the change from hunter/gatherer to agricultural society.
8There's also a stoned ape theory about the cognitive evolution of human consciousness through consumption of psilocybin mushrooms.
3thats so epic
2
inb4 catnip
7It makes a nice tea.
3
You know that mountain what where Moses did the thing with the burning bush? Hallucinogenic mushrooms.
6The Catnip police coming to jail your cat.
5Cedar waxwings get drink on fermented mulberries and roll around on the ground.
3now i can only think of a group of reindeer in DEA vests fighting another of group of reindeer not wearing DEA vests
1The Elephant getting drunk bit is a bit sus
They'd have to eat a massive amount to get drunk.
0https://ucalgary.ca/news/elephants-get-drunk-because-they-cant-metabolize-alcohol-us
This disagrees. It even goes so far as to call the "assumptions of previous researchers premature."
3
