Recently I began reading ‘Animals & Psychedelics - The Natural World and the Instinct to Alter Consciousness’ by Giorgio Samorini which ‘rejects the Western cultural assumption that drug use is unnatural’ and that ‘Samroni opens our eyes to the possibility that beings who consume psychedelics—whether humans or animals—contribute to the evolution of their species by creating entirely new patterns of behavior that eventually will be adopted by other members of that species.’

I’ve been absolutely loving this book so far

"the pursuit of inebriation has been proposed as a fourth drive - akin to hunger, thirst, and sex..."

"Animals engage in intoxicating drug consumption... this moment of drug-induced inebriation produces a deconditioning, that allows for new behavioral ways to be established in a species."

"If animals, birds, and, yes, insects avail themselves of inebriation, then we must see this as a natural impulse to take drugs to alter consciousness, and it exists in man as well. Perhaps, then, the problem of 'problem drugs' is no problem after all."

One interesting concept that I was unaware of is that elephants get DRUNK!!!

Yes! Apparently, “Pachyderms’ passion for alcohol has long been famous. African elephants are avid for fruits of several kinds of palm tree… As they ripen, these fruits tend to ferment quickly, sometimes while still attached to the tree. Elephants will devour the fermented fruits already scattered over the earth and then shake the tree… fermentation of these fruits produces ethyl alcohol in concentrations as high as 7%, and this process continues when the fruit enters the animals digestive systems… groups of elephants appear to compete over the fruits… trying to eat the most fruit in the shortest time.”

After reading this part I of course had to look for some videos on the subject and came upon these fascinating videos of elephants drunk and playing:

“Once drunk, the elephants become overexcited and tend to jump & startle at unusual sounds… they scare easily and react defensively, becoming extremely aggressive. A herd of drunken elephants is considered a serious danger to humans.”

WOW. I honestly had no idea that elephants (and apparently many other animals) seek out inebriation in the form of eating fermenting fruit and even return to these sites to get drunk again!

Cool stuff World!