Psychoactives in the animal kingdom

[the toad]

There's an article in the Pharmaceutical Journal by Andrew Haynes (Vol 285 18/25 December 2010)that talks about the widespread use of psychedelics in the animal kingdom. Haynes' argument for explaining this behavior rests on the idea of boredom-—literally bored animals are seeking pharmacological stimulation, much in the same way that bored humans seek pharmaceutical stimulation—but there might be something else going on.

Since I cover this same topic in my latest book,"A Small Furry Prayer,"rather than try to rewrite the material, I'm offering the following excerpt as a deeper explanation for the origins of the phenomena:"In his 1983 book, From Chocolate to Morphine, University of Arizona physician Andrew Weil points out that children spin in circles to change their consciousness, while adults do the same thing with booze anddrugs. So instinctive does this behavior appear that, Weil suspected, perhaps humans aren't the first species to actively pursue altered states . As it turns out, he was correct in his suspicions. In 2006, Jane Goodall.....

http://expanded--consciousness.blogspot.com/2013/11/widespread-use-of-psychedelics-in.html?m=1

 

[neversickanymore]

Interesting article.. this has probably already been posted at some time but its relevant.

Reindeer regularly eat magic mushrooms in the wild, research finds



Amanita muscaria

 

[the toad]

^

 

[Folley]

Damn, that was a cool article.

"the pursuit of intoxication with drugs is a primary motivational force in the behavior of organisms."

 

[TheRapperGoneBad]

Good article really interesting stuff.

 

[wayab]

http://www.erowid.org/library/review/review.php?p=253

 

['medicine cabinet']

Great article. Very facinating.

 

[slimvictor]

This is fucking fantastic stuff.

http://www.erowid.org/library/review/review.php?p=253

Also really cool!

When a male mandrill must engage in combat with another, either to establish his claim to a female or to climb a rung of the hierarchical ladder, he does not begin the fight without forethought. Instead, he first finds and digs up an iboga bush, eating its root; next, he waits for its effects to hit him full force (which can take from one to two hours); and only then does he approach and attack the other male he wants to engage in battle. The fact that the mandrill waits like this to feel the full effect of the drug before attacking demonstrates a high level of premeditation and awareness of what he is doing. (pp. 57)

 

[my3rdeye]

The toad was Bufo alvarius, a Colorado River toad whose skin contains two different tryptamines-the same psychoactive found in "magic mushrooms"-and licking Bufo produces heady hallucinations.
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That's never going to die the whole "toad licking" hysteria from the early 90s. You scrap and smoke it, not lick it. Also 5meo-dmt is not the active ingredient in mushrooms nor is bufotenin. I realize this is about animals doing it, but licking a toad is dangerous.


"Meanwhile, Jaguars in the Amazon chew the bark and leaves of the yaje vine, better known as ayahuasca and containing DMT, arguably the most powerful hallucinogen on earth"

What is fucking insane is they somehow know to eat an MAOI too so it's orally active. That amazes me.

 

[peacelovedope]

All life is drawn to it. We are meant to experience, share, and learn from altered states of consciousness, not make laws that prohibit them. Seriously amazing stuff this article is.