- nondescripthandle ( @nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English58•21 days ago
Leemurs provoke centipedes to make them excrete their defensive toxin, but then the lemurs just use that toxin to get high and repel mosquitos.
- LibertyLizard ( @LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net ) English35•21 days ago
And there are monkeys that steal drinks from beach resorts.
- WanakaTree ( @WanakaTree@lemm.ee ) English2•20 days ago
- Kusimulkku ( @Kusimulkku@lemm.ee ) English22•21 days ago
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.
- Truffle ( @Truffle@lemmy.ml ) English2•20 days ago
I 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.
- doctordevice ( @doctordevice@lemmy.ca ) English16•20 days ago
“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.
- PhlubbaDubba ( @PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee ) English14•21 days ago
Meanwhile the Siberian Nomad off to the side waiting for whichever reindeer that gets the shrooms to take a piss 👁️👄👁️
- collapse_already ( @collapse_already@lemmy.ml ) English12•20 days ago
I 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.”
- FiskFisk33 ( @FiskFisk33@startrek.website ) English11•20 days ago
This is documentary video of animals on the savannah eating fermented marula is great
the hung over warthog is so relateable!
- DrSteveBrule ( @DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz ) English3•20 days ago
I 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
- flora_explora ( @flora_explora@beehaw.org ) English8•21 days ago
How 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?
- flora_explora ( @flora_explora@beehaw.org ) English1•20 days ago
Thanks. 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.
- Notyou ( @Notyou@sopuli.xyz ) English7•21 days ago
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?
- flora_explora ( @flora_explora@beehaw.org ) English1•20 days ago
Apparently 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?
- luciole (he/him) ( @luciole@beehaw.org ) English7•21 days ago
inb4 catnip
It makes a nice tea.
- AllNewTypeFace ( @AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space ) English7•21 days ago
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.
- MonkderVierte ( @MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml ) English5•20 days ago
And wasps! They get drunk and aggressive in years with lots of overripe fruits.
- arglebargle ( @westyvw@lemm.ee ) English5•20 days ago
Amarula logo. Not a bad liquor at all.
- Dagwood222 ( @Dagwood222@lemm.ee ) English5•20 days ago
[off topic]
Some believe that beer was the trigger to the change from hunter/gatherer to agricultural society.
- BigBananaDealer ( @BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee ) English2•20 days ago
thats so epic
- save_the_humans ( @save_the_humans@leminal.space ) English2•20 days ago
There’s also a stoned ape theory about the cognitive evolution of human consciousness through consumption of psilocybin mushrooms.
- TheReturnOfPEB ( @TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com ) English1•20 days ago
now i can only think of a group of reindeer in DEA vests fighting another of group of reindeer not wearing DEA vests