Animals and Psychedelics: Dolphins, Reindeer, Cats, and More

Dolphins, reindeer, cats, and more — the animal kingdom's relationship with psychoactive substances (2026 Update)

Humans are far from the only species with an interest in mind-altering substances. Animals across the animal kingdom — from marine mammals to birds to insects — have been observed actively seeking out and repeatedly consuming plants and fungi that produce psychoactive effects. This behaviour is sometimes called "zoopharmacognosy" when it involves medicinal self-treatment, though the motivations behind psychoactive plant-seeking are not always clear-cut.

What is clear is that the phenomenon is widespread, well-documented, and genuinely fascinating. Animals and psychedelics have a longer shared history than most people realise — and their behaviour raises interesting questions about consciousness, evolution, and why these compounds exist in nature at all.

Dolphins and Pufferfish: The Ocean's Unlikely Ritual

One of the most widely shared stories in the world of animals and psychedelics comes from BBC documentary footage showing young bottlenose dolphins deliberately handling pufferfish — gently passing them around in small groups, seemingly to inhale the tetrodotoxin the fish secretes as a defence mechanism. At low doses, tetrodotoxin produces a trance-like, numbing effect rather than the lethal paralysis it causes at high concentrations.

The dolphins appeared to enter a relaxed, almost dreamlike state after these encounters — floating near the surface, moving slowly, and gazing at their own reflections. The behaviour was deliberate and social, not accidental. Marine biologist Rob Pilley, who observed the footage, described the dolphins as appearing "completely spaced out."

While the neurological detail of what dolphins experience from tetrodotoxin is unknown, the repeated, intentional seeking of this effect strongly suggests that something pleasurable or neurologically interesting is happening. Dolphins are among the most cognitively complex animals on the planet — their seeking of altered states, if that is what this represents, is not easily dismissed.

Reindeer and Fly Agaric: A Siberian Tradition

In Siberia and other parts of northern Europe, reindeer (caribou) are well known for their enthusiastic consumption of fly agaric mushrooms (Amanita muscaria). These distinctive red-and-white mushrooms contain ibotenic acid and muscimol — compounds that produce hallucinogenic and sedative effects very different from psilocybin. Reindeer seek them out actively, sometimes travelling significant distances to find them.

Even more strikingly, reindeer also consume the urine of other reindeer who have eaten fly agaric. Ibotenic acid is largely excreted unchanged, so consuming the urine produces similar (and in some cases stronger) effects — because the body has already done some of the conversion work. Indigenous Siberian shamans practised a parallel tradition: consuming the urine of someone who had ingested fly agaric, as it was considered a way to access the compound's effects more safely than direct mushroom consumption.

The reindeer's enthusiasm for fly agaric is so well established that some ethnomycologists have suggested it played a role in the cultural origins of the shamanic reindeer traditions — and possibly even the imagery of Santa Claus, with his flying reindeer and a red-and-white colour scheme that mirrors the mushroom.

Cats and Catnip: A Familiar Example

You do not need to travel to Siberia to find animals seeking psychoactive plants. Cats and catnip (Nepeta cataria) offer one of the most observable — and charming — examples of animal psychoactive behaviour in everyday life. The compound responsible is nepetalactone, which binds to feline olfactory receptors and triggers a response that looks, to human observers, very much like euphoria: rolling, vocalising, rubbing, and a temporary period of apparent bliss followed by about 30 minutes of seeming indifference.

Interestingly, the catnip response is genetic — roughly 30% of domestic cats do not respond to it at all. Big cats, including lions and leopards, often do respond, which suggests the sensitivity is an ancient trait. The response appears to be a neurological reaction rather than a nutritional or medicinal one — it has no obvious survival benefit, making it one of the cleaner examples of an animal simply seeking a pleasurable altered state.

Monkeys, Fermented Fruit, and Alcohol

Primates — including our closest evolutionary relatives — have a well-documented relationship with fermented, alcohol-containing fruit. Wild chimpanzees in Guinea have been observed collecting and drinking palm wine that has fermented naturally in tree hollows, sometimes to the point of visible intoxication. Similarly, vervet monkeys in the Caribbean, descended from a population introduced to sugar cane plantations centuries ago, show a strong preference for alcohol-containing mixtures. In research settings, these monkeys display drinking patterns remarkably similar to those seen in humans — a few abstainers, most moderate drinkers, and a small percentage that drink heavily.

This parallel with human alcohol consumption patterns has been used to argue that the genetic and neurological architecture underlying addiction may be far older than our species — and that the relationship between primates and psychoactive substances has deep evolutionary roots.

Elephants and Intoxication

Stories of elephants deliberately seeking out and consuming fermented marula fruit have circulated for decades. While some researchers have questioned whether elephants can consume enough fermented fruit fast enough to become meaningfully intoxicated (they would need very large quantities given their body mass), there are credible reports of elephants eating the fruit of the marula tree in large amounts during the brief period it ferments on the ground.

More reliably documented is the claim that elephants in India and Africa have been observed raiding breweries and human alcohol stores — suggesting a genuine preference for alcohol beyond simply eating fallen fruit opportunistically. Elephant intoxication has been documented by enough independent observers over a long enough period to be taken seriously, even if the exact mechanism and frequency remain debated.

Wallabies and Opium Poppies

In Tasmania, wallabies have been observed entering legally grown opium poppy fields and eating the pods — then moving in circles, apparently disoriented, before eventually lying down. This behaviour was reported to the Australian parliament's legal affairs committee in 2009 by the attorney-general for Tasmania, who described the animals creating "crop circles" in poppy fields. The wallabies return repeatedly, suggesting a degree of intentionality and preference rather than accidental ingestion.

Tasmania grows a significant portion of the world's legal opium for pharmaceutical use, and the wallaby problem is taken seriously enough by farmers that it has required management strategies. It is, by any measure, one of the more unusual real-world intersections of animals and psychoactive substances.

Jaguars and Yagé Vine

In the Amazon rainforest, jaguars have long been observed chewing the leaves and bark of Banisteriopsis caapi — the vine used as one of the key ingredients in ayahuasca. The vine contains harmine and other beta-carboline alkaloids that act as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Jaguars appear to seek the vine deliberately and consume it in quantities that suggest intentionality rather than random foraging.

Indigenous Amazonian peoples have noticed this behaviour for centuries. Some traditions see the jaguar's relationship with the yagé vine as a kind of spiritual parallel to human shamanic use — and in several Amazonian cosmologies, jaguars are associated specifically with visionary or altered states of consciousness.

Birds, Berries, and Intentional Intoxication

Certain species of birds have been observed consuming fermented berries until they show signs of intoxication: unsteady flight, disorientation, and reduced fear of predators. Cedar waxwings are particularly noted for this — groups of them sometimes strip berry bushes that have fermented in autumn. The behaviour is occasionally dangerous (intoxicated birds fly into windows or become easy prey), but the fact that it occurs regularly across multiple species of berry-eating birds suggests it is not purely accidental.

Some researchers have suggested that the high-sugar, rapidly-fermenting berries available in autumn represent such a calorie-dense food source that the alcohol content is essentially unavoidable — and that birds have evolved a certain tolerance rather than actively seeking intoxication. Either way, the result is the same: birds getting very noticeably drunk on fermented berries, much to the amusement of anyone watching.

What Does This Tell Us?

The diversity of animals that seek out psychoactive substances — across mammals, birds, and even insects — suggests that the drive to alter consciousness is not uniquely human. Whether this represents a conscious desire for altered experience, a neurological reward response, or simply a powerful conditioned preference for certain sensory effects varies by species and compound.

What is consistent is that the neurological architecture underlying these responses is ancient. Serotonin, dopamine, and opioid receptors — the systems that psychoactive compounds interact with — are present not just in mammals but in many invertebrates. The fact that plants and fungi produce compounds that interact so precisely with these systems is itself a clue: it suggests a long evolutionary relationship between these organisms and the animals that consume them, likely driven by ecological pressures on both sides.

For more on the science of how psilocybin interacts with the brain specifically, see our cornerstone post on mushrooms and the mind. And for a broader view of psychoactive substances across cultures and species, our post on the most common types of psychedelics provides useful context.