I know it’s a fun story that dolphins pass pufferfish or something and the venom gets them “high” but I wonder if this is accurate. This seems like a cute urban legend more than genuine animal psychology. Or am I wrong? Is it scientifically verified somehow that dolphins have the cognitive ability to deliberately abuse drugs and get high socially?
In: Biology
The dolphins getting high on pufferfish poison has no scientific evidence to back it up. The claim came from a documentary but documentaries are NOT scientific research. **There is not a single peer reviewed paper that backs up the claim.**
Then you have the problem that the only evidence is the same documentary and footage. **A sample of 1 is not usuful to make conclusions.** But that doesn’t stop the internet from using the exact same thing as a source.
Then you have have to consider that pufferfish are poisonous (deadly to eat) not venomous (inject poison) meaning that **under normal circumstances touching it does not intoxicate**.
In other words, internet spreading misinformation.
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