This is absolutely true. We had masses of the bushes in our backyard. The birds, in this case mostly robins, wait until the berries are red, swollen and about to burst. Then, one day it’s “time” and they flock. It’s wild, are hundreds, they must come from literally from 10s of miles around. Over the day, they strip the berries from the bushes. These birds are on a mission.
They definitely get drunk. No question whatever. They become very loud, and fall over while they’re walking. (Very amusing, it is. Step, step, step, THUNK.) Wanting to experience nature, I once tried walking out among them. Most of the birds just ignore you. However a couple will take it in their head to dive bomb you. Robins are usually completely passive towards humans. But not when they’re drunk. We always waited for that day with great anticipation.
yabob, it may not be alcohol in the berries, but it’s something equivalent. (The berries, it’s true, do not smell like alcohol as I remember.) Overeating doesn’t seem to be the cause of strange behavior; if it was, wouldn’t birdfeeders be surrounded by birds with the drunken symptoms?
What about poppies? Opium was the wonder drug of early man; an analgesic, anti-tussive (cough suppressant), anti-diarrhea medication, and short-term euphoric agent all in one. This is because it closely resembles certain neurotransmitters. In fact, we used it to identify those neurotransmitters: endorphins (short for endogenous morphine), the chemicals that you jump out of planes and eat hot chili to coax your brain to produce.
I always thought it kind of strange that a plant would produce a chemical so closely linked to the mammalian brain. In fact, it produces the majority of it within its seed pods. I have a hard time believing that poppies developed this just for our benefit. I bet that animals have been getting high off them for millions of years to, you know, spread the seeds around…
Are you calling Salvia a MILD hallucinogen??? That stuff is powerful! It’s like you’re dreaming, but you’re wide awake - seriously, I can’t imagine any animal being on it without appearing dead! Perhaps catnip is an intermediate between salvia and peppermint or the like (more closely related to the latter!).
I’ll second that. I was quite a dedicated Psychonaut in my younger years, being quite partial to LSD, Marijuana, and Ketamine. Despite the fact that I enjoyed those very powerful hallucinogens(well not pot, but the other two), I found Salvia(actually that 10X extract stuff) to be a bit much. I can’t imagine an animal enjoying a buzz that was similar to that.
No no no, the extract is unnatural… smoke the herb. The problem is, being as strong as it is, you have to have a friend there to hold the pipe for you. When it takes effect, you don’t realize you’re holding anything at all - heck, you don’t even know you exist anymore!
The effect can be powerful (although it wasn’t for me) but the duration is quite short. About a half hour start to finish: link. Compared to LSD which can last up to 10 hours or more its quite mild.
A wide variety of animals apparently seek out substances that will make them intoxicated. The list includes goats, llama, primates, bees, birds, cats, cows, elephants, pigs, hornets, wasps, chickens, raccoons, hamsters, and rats. Read more here:
My roommates cat hated cannip. If you brought it anywhere near him, he bolted across the room in fear (at least he appeared to be very scared of it. In fact, he bolted across the room fast enough to look like one big flinch, one whiff and he was gone.
From: http://www.whps.act.edu.au/whisp/koala.html
“Koalas do not get intoxicated from gum leaves. The koalas’ relaxed lifestyle is an adaptation to the low energy content of the leaves. By moving slowly and resting or sleeping for up to 19 hours each day, koalas can conserve their energy.”
From: http://www.bio.davidson.edu/Courses/anphys/2000/CrawfordC/ecology.htm
"It is a common myth that koalas become slightly intoxicated by the chemicals in the eucalyptus leaves. There is actually no evidence to support this claim which is sometimes used to try and explain the koalas apparently comatose and lethargic behavior. "