Animals and Psychedelics: the Natural World and the Instinct to Alter Consciousness

Cover Image; Title Page; Table of Contents; Foreword: Evolution Through Inebriation?; Introduction: Drugs in the Animal Kingdom and Beyond; Chapter 1: Crazed Cows; Chapter 2: Alcohol and Animals: From Drunken Elephants to Sauced Snails; Chapter 3: Frenzied Feliness; Chapter 4: Mushroom-Loving Reindeer and Craving Caribou; Chapter 5: Galloping Goats; Chapter 6: Birds on a Binge; Chapter 7: Other "Out There" Animals; Chapter 8: Intoxicated Insects; Chapter 9: The Lazarus Fly: A New Hypothesis; Chapter 10: Animals, Humans, and Drugs: The Why of It All; References; Index; About the Author;The animal kingdom offers amazing examples of wild animals and insects seeking out and consuming psychoactive substances. Giorgio Samorini explores this little-known phenomenon and suggests that, far from being confined to humans, the desire to experience altered states of consciousness is a natural drive shared by all living beings.