What Animals Like To Do When They Are Bored!

Animals and humans are not that far off! Mammals, like people, sometimes get inebriated when they are bored.

Dolphins get a buzz from the toxins in blowfish, reindeer “fly” on magic mushrooms, and monkeys, raccoons and possums love a stiff drink.

Researchers now believe that apes — gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans — like to spin around on vines or ropes to induce a dizzy altered state.

By analyzing dozens of videos on YouTube showing apes spinning, scientists from the UK’s University of Warwick and the University of Birmingham found that the speed with which the apes spun would give the animals a brief high. The apes often lost their balance and fell over after spinning.

Researchers noted that apes and other primates spin for mental stimulation in captivity and the wild.

The authors of the study, published in the journal Primates, believe there may be a link between spinning behaviour and mental health, in animals as well as humans.

Scientists from Australia have watched dolphins holding blowfish in their mouths, possibly to get the numbing effects caused by the tetrodotoxin that’s found in the fish’s internal organs. Oddly, they then pass the blowfish on to other dolphins in their pod —reminding observers of how a group of partiers will “puff and pass” a marijuana joint.

And while countless animals seek out fermented fruit to enjoy the boozy sweetness, reindeer take it to a psychedelic extreme by eating Amanita muscaria mushrooms, which contain the hallucinogens muscimol and ibotenic acid. Shamans in northern Europe used red and white mushrooms in ceremonies, leading some to believe that beloved Christmas traditions (such as flying reindeer and men wearing red and white costumes) may have unexpected origins.