6. Playing with Poison
Getting trashed isn’t just for land based animals. Birds are known to indulge quite a bit, too. Australia has its “Drunken Parrot Season”, where birds just seem to fall out of the sky. On the ground, they appear uncoordinated, keep falling over and eventually pass out. And like a true alcoholic, they cower in shame while they recover from their hangover. Scientists blame the behavior on their ingestion of alcohol from fermenting fruit.
But other birds don’t wait for the fermentation of fruit to get their high; they go right to the source.
In humans, Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) is both an analgesic and a powerful hallucinogen. Its effects include anxiety, slurred speech, delirium, dizziness, paranoia, and nausea, lasting for at least 24 hours, making it one of the most toxic plants known to man.
In spite of that, Jimsonweed is a preferred source of nectar for hummingbirds. They experience the same effects on a a much smaller scale, and make sure they ingest just enough to get a buzz and not get killed.
Talk about living on the edge.
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