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Desert toads, monkey frogs, harvester ants, and mullet fish can secrete hallucinogenic substances in their venom that paralyze their enemies.
Sonoran Desert Toad (Incilius alvarius)
Habitat: Sonoran Desert, southwestern United States and northern Mexico
The Sonoran Desert Toad is relatively large. (Photo: Wikimedia).
Sonoran Desert Toad or also known as Colorado River Toadis one of the largest toads in North America, secreting bufotenine converting enzymea compound that many other toads also have, into 5-MeO-DMT, a powerful hallucinogen related to DMT Sonoran Desert toads spew a toxic mixture containing 5-MeO-DMT from their parotid glands located behind each eye and glands in their feet. When ingested in large quantities by predators, the toxin causes vomiting, cardiac arrest, and even death. Scientists are still unsure why Sonoran Desert toads produce 5-MeO-DMT. They are the only toad species that produce the compound.
Giant Monkey Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor)
Habitat: Amazon basin in South America
Monkey frogs secrete a compound called kambô that is used as a stimulant by aboriginal shamans. (Photo: Inaturalist).
Researchers are not yet unanimous. stepsonthe poison secreted by the giant monkey frog, is considered a hallucinogen. Among the indigenous peoples of the southwestern Amazon, the secretion from the frog’s skin has been used as a stimulant in shamanic rituals for centuries. It is also often applied to small, superficial burns to increase the endurance of hunters.
When eaten by predators, kambo can cause vomiting, seizures, and changes in heart function. Researchers are still trying to decipher the specific compounds that cause these effects, but they do know that the monkey frog produces more than 200 short protein fragments that can affect bodily functions. Some of them have potential as future medicines.
California Harvester Ants (Pogonomyrmex californicus)
Habitat: southwestern United States and northern Mexico
Native Californians eat harvester ants in religious ceremonies. (Photo:Inaturalist)
California harvester ant venom is composed of enzymese. Native people in central California used to eat them as part of religious ceremonies. They would swallow hundreds of the ants, living in balls of eagle feathers. They were obviously stung from the inside. Justin Schmidt, an entomologist at the Southwest Biological Institute and the University of Arizona, Tucson, says the pain of multiple stings, combined with extreme cold, fasting, and in some cases, sleep deprivation, caused hallucinations in people.
The venom of one harvester ant is enough to kill a mouse. A person can die if he eats 1,000 ants. However, some animals such as Horned lizard (Phrynosoma solare) They have a mucous membrane in their mouths and digestive systems that allows them to eat hundreds of ants. Compounds in their blood can neutralize the venom.
Dream Fish (Latch latch)
Habitat: temperate and tropical waters from the Atlantic coast of Africa to the Mediterranean Sea
Dream fish. (Photo: Flickr)
Dream fish can cause visual and auditory hallucinations when eaten.i, although cases are rare. Two cases of hallucinogenic fish poisoning were reported in 2006 in the journal Clinical Toxicology. In one case, a man ate grilled sardines and experienced hallucinations of screaming animals and giant arthropods crawling around his car. The symptoms disappeared about 36 hours after the patient ate the meat or fish. Researchers still don’t know what compound causes the poisoning. Evolutionary biologist Leo Smith of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, who studies the history and evolution of fish, said he and other scientists suspect the compound is a byproduct of the fish’s diet.
According to VnExpress