Humans are not the first or only species to experiment with mind-altering substances. The animal kingdom is full of critters seeking out natural highs from the jungles of the Amazon to the tropical and subtropical oceans of the world. While psychedelic substance use in humans is still in many settings frowned upon and criminalized, it is possible that the desire for altered mind states is an evolutionarily beneficial trait. Animals and psychedelics have a long history, and understanding an animal’s instinct towards intoxication better allows humans to explore their own relationship to psychedelics.
Is ‘Animals Eating Psychedelics’ A Thing?
Yes, animals are known to eat psychedelics. There are animals all over the planet consciously consuming naturally occurring psychedelic substances. Beyond alley cats scrounging for catnip and laboratory mice coerced into consuming cocaine, animals in the wild forage and use a variety of plants and fungi that are known to induce psychoactive states.
Animals That Seek Psychoactive Drugs
In almost every country and class, researchers find animals with an appetite for psychoactive experiences. The most well-known example of an animal seeking out psychoactive drugs is found in households all over the world: cats and catnip. Catnip contains nepetalactone, an alkaloid that is believed to induce euphoric behavior in felines. Nepetalactone is similar to the pheromones found in male cat urine, so it is possible the animated behavior could be a reproductive response. Not all cats have the gene that responds to nepetalactone so not all cats respond to or seek out catnip.
Birds also have an appetite for intoxication. Songbirds in Vienna will gorge themselves on rotting berries, becoming visibly drunk on the fermented fruit, and sometimes even end up crashing into windows. Other birds — specifically corvids like magpies, jays and crows — take a cooperative approach to get inebriated. Corvids will swoop down to anthills, allow ants to swarm their bodies, take beak fulls of ants into their mouths and rub ants all over their body. This process cleans feathers, kills mites and possibly soothes skin. Researchers have witnessed addictive behavior in this process as there seems to be a psychoactive component to it. For instance, birds forgoing their lives to sit in anthills as a symptom of their addiction.
Bees show signs of intoxication after collecting nectar from certain orchids. Their motor function is visibly impaired and they can have difficulty remaining airborne. When returning to their hives these altered bees face harsh punishment as guard bees swarm and beat them up for their lack of productive behavior. In some cases, guards will bite off the legs of the offender or even kill them.
In the tropical and subtropical oceans, dolphins will play with agitated pufferfish. Passing the fish between themselves and absorbing a small amount of the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin that the fish excretes in panic. Tetrodotoxin is incredibly toxic, and the dolphins need to handle the fish with care in order to come out of the experience unscathed.
Some of our closest relatives also like to partake in medicinal psychoactive use. Capuchin monkeys will rub millipedes into their fur. First passing around taking turns biting the millipedes enough to frustrate them into excreting the powerful benzoquinones. Once the millipede begins to excrete its toxins, the Capuchins quickly rub their body to avoid overexposure. Benzoquinones help protect monkeys against mosquitoes and dangerous flies, however, they can be toxic in high doses. The toxin can be sedative and help prevent gastrointestinal parasites.
High in the Rocky Mountains, big horned sheep and mountain goats go to incredible lengths to get ahold of Canadian lichen, climbing out onto dangerous outcroppings and in some cases grinding their teeth down to the bone to scrape off every inch of lichen. This behavior is especially prevalent in young females and induces a state of aggressive and isolating behavior uncharacteristic of this herd animal. Goats have also shown aggression towards humans over psilocybin-rich mushrooms known to be psychedelic.
Human Impact
Humans obviously have a big impact on animals’ use of psychedelic substances. In laboratories, researchers administer various psychedelics to animals ranging from rats to octopi. The presence of humans also gives animals new opportunities to try non-native psychoactive substances. In Russia, bears have been known to interact with rouge cans of jet fuel. Huffing and having altered intoxicated behavior. Many animals will consume alcohol if they can get their paws on it. In Australia, wallabies are known to enter opium fields, eating their fill of the powerful poppies. There have even been crop circles formed in the field as the high wallabies hop around frantically.
The Response Between Animals and Psychedelics
Some animals end up consuming intoxicating substances out of necessity or on accident. Livestock and deer will graze on locoweed, a poisonous grass indigenous to the Rocky Mountains. Locoweed contains swainsonine which affects a cell’s ability to function. If consumed regularly, it can cause reproductive damage, impaired neurological function and heart failure. Livestock, like cows, will consume locoweed when it is available to them but have not been shown to seek it out when other food opportunities are available.
Jaguars in the Amazon foraging for yagé behave in strange playful ways, seemingly hunting invisible prey or staring off into space with glassy eyes. However, there is no empirical evidence of visual or auditory hallucinations. Jaguars on yagé will regress into kitten-like play, rolling around on the forest floor and staring into the dense canopy above them. There aren’t definitive answers as to why jaguars seek out yagé.
Indigenous people living alongside jaguars believe that the big cat’s yagé consumption improved its hunting skills. This aligns with the current research on how play can stimulate the brain in the same way that hunting behavior can. Jaguars visualizing hallucinatory prey can mimic the experience to such an extent that it improves the jaguar’s hunting ability. This then increases the likelihood that the jaguar’s offspring will continue to consume this ayahuasca derivative.
Smaller felines have mixed responses to catnip. personal disposition affects reactions and intensity varies. Cats that are generally more outgoing and energetic could be more playful and wild, while calmer cats can be more withdrawn and sedated.
Reindeer in North Eurasia eat wild mushrooms containing muscimol and proceed to romp and frolic around their fields of home. The mushrooms are extremely toxic, but that does not seem to bother the reindeer. In fact, people even use reindeer as a filtration system for muscimol, drinking reindeer urine for the psychedelic effects free of other toxins.
Behavior deemed signs of intoxication vary for each animal. Dolphins passing around pufferfish seem sedated and have a lack of motor control while cats can behave more energized and playful. It is challenging to draw parallels across species but research aimed at better understanding how animals respond to psychedelics can better help us understand our own behavior.
Why Do Animals Seek Recreational Highs In Nature?
The fact that the drive toward substance use is present across species invalidates the cultural ostracization and shaming present in the human world. Brain chemistry and instinct drives humans and animals towards substance use, not personal failure and weakness.
Researchers believe that the active drive towards psychoactive substances is an evolutionarily inherited trait. Ancestors of humans and other animals consumed awareness-enhancing substances that promoted behavior allowing them to pass on their genetic material. Their offspring now have the receptors prepped for these substances and continue to experiment with available mind-altering compounds.
Multiple animal species have been known to use psychoactive substances more when under stress or experiencing trauma. For example, during the Vietnam War, water buffalo rushed to the opium fields they had previously avoided as they dealt with the trauma of their war-torn home. Researchers conducted an experiment with mongooses where they planted the hallucinogenic silver morning glory. At first, the mongooses were uninterested and left it alone. However after one of them died, the grief-stricken partner began regularly consuming it.
It is challenging for researchers to study the exact brain activity of animals experiencing psychedelics. Putting a jaguar on ayahuasca in an MRI machine is beyond the capacity of most psychedelic research facilities. Experts document animal behavior in their natural environments and make inferences based on their observations. Any conclusions made from these observations are still speculative. Life is a challenge in the animal kingdom, and the desire to transport, heal and relieve is universal. This commonality can be a part of the discussion surrounding substance use in humans. If the draw toward psychoactive experiences is seen as a basic part of the human experience, the dialogue can shift away from shallow judgments and towards understanding and compassion.
There are many examples of experimentation between animals and psychedelics, from dinosaurs to dolphins. What do you think we can learn from our fellow creatures? Let us know what you think in the comments.
