Top 10 Intoxicating Ways Animals Use Drugs
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=
Subscribe Fate Documentary for more Update :
https://goo.gl/uZQXVP
Follow us on
Google+ : https://goo.gl/YR8VAH
Facebook: https://goo.gl/7ShLDr
twitter: https://twitter.com/documentaryfate
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=
Some people like to think there is a huge gap between humans and animals. Either humans are nobler than beasts, or animals are more innocent and pure. It turns out that humans are animals and all of our foibles can be found somewhere in the animal kingdom—including the desire to use drugs. Here are ten examples of animals that use chemicals for either pleasure or profit.
10 Alcohol
Alcohol fermentation is easy. Take some fruit and do nothing to it. A simple yeast contamination will metabolize the sugars inside the fruit, producing alcohol. It is probable that alcohol was one of mankind’s earliest drugs for this very reason. But it is not only humans that have come under the influence of the demon drink.
9 Birds with Cigarettes
Discarded cigarette butts often litter the streets. They are an unsightly mess for us, but an opportunity for other animals. Birds have been seen in cities all over the world picking up the butts and weaving them into the structure of their nests. This led to scientists asking—why?
8 Anting
There is a behavior in birds that has stumped ornithologists for decades. A bird picks up an insect, usually an ant, in its beak and rubs it over its feathers. Called “anting” it is seen in many bird species.
7 Dolphin’s Puff Puffer Fish
Dolphins are commonly thought of as the most intelligent of animals. Their behavior and social interactions make them seem almost human. And just like humans, it seems that teenage dolphins like to get high.
6 Wallabies on Opium
Opium poppies, the source of heroin, morphine, and other opioids, is a hugely profitable crop in Australia. Australia produces almost half the world’s supply of legally grown opium poppies. With this amount of narcotics hanging around it is no surprise that some become addicted. What might be surprising is that the addicts are not people—they are wallabies.
5 Cats and Catnip
Not all drugs are effective on every species. Opium, cigarettes, and alcohol are all addictions humans can understand. For us, Catnip, Nepeta cataria, is a fairly dull and innocuous plant. For cats, however. . .
4 Jaguars on Yage
Banisteriopsis caapi, also called Yage, is a common vine in the South American rainforest. It is one of the ingredients in the powerfully hallucinogenic drink used by shamans called Ayahuasca. It seems that human use of the drug was prompted by jaguars.
3 Locoweed
Locoweed, also known as Crazy Weed, is unsurprisingly a plant which causes odd behavior in animals. Locoweed is actually a group of plants which all cause similar effects—Locoism. When an animal gets Locoism, they wander aimlessly, show extreme lethargy, and salivate excessively. None of the effects of Locoism seem that pleasant, but it is apparently an addictive experience for horses. They just go crazy for Crazy Weed.
2 Reindeer and Mushrooms
Ask someone to draw a mushroom and chances are they will draw one with a red cap and white spots. This is the Fly Agaric mushroom, Amanita muscaria. Common throughout Europe and Asia, it is toxic to humans. A dose of 15 caps can be deadly. This has not stopped people eating them because they also contain a psychoactive drug called muscimol.
Humans are not the only ones who like these fungi, though. For reindeer, they are a vital part of their diet. They also get enjoyment out of eating them. Eating the Fly Agaric makes the reindeer loll about, behave erratically, and bellow strange noises. Importantly for the reindeer, they are not poisoned by the mushrooms.
1 Millipedes
The Black Lemurs of Madagascar use millipedes for protection against insects. They catch the large creepy crawlies and bite them. The poor millipede unleashes its chemical defenses which include all manner of offensive smelling compounds. This is exactly what the lemur wants, however, as it smears them all over its coat as a way to drive off insects and other parasites. That is one use of the millipede. A lemur that uses a millipede as an insect repellent also seems to get high from the experience. It drools, rocks back and forth, and rubs itself.
---------------- Music Credit ------------------------
Easy Lemon Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
chemistry Top 10 Intoxicating Ways Animals Use Drugs | |
| 2 Likes | 2 Dislikes |
| 218 views views | 278 followers |
| Education | Upload TimePublished on 13 May 2017 |
No comments:
Post a Comment