Giorgio Samorini, Italian scientist, noticed that mandril males, before they get into a fight eat iboga (Tabernanthe Iboga). Mandrils tear out the root, which has hallucinogenic properties. After, approximately two hours the root starts to work and mandril is ready for a fight. Baboons, for example, are looking with extreme devotion for red fruits of the tree Cycadiceae family, not just because they are hungry. After eating this fruit, the baboons start acting like they are drunk. This fruit is very toxic for humans, but on baboons has effect like liquor.

African elephants are looking for palm fruits. These fruits ripen very quickly and soon start to ferment. The percent of alcohol in them can even reach 7%. Elephants are crossing nearly 30km to get this treat. They eat this fruits until they are drunk. Scientist were observing their behavior while they are under influence, and they found out that elephants are acting like humans when they are dunk. They get tetchy, unusually scared and in some cases violent. These drunk animals are a big risk for the African villages. African elephants are not an exception, Asian elephants like a good drink too. They are eating durian (Durio Zibethinus), they sometimes eat this fruit ’till they drop.

Our house cats are vicious too. One special herb is working like a drug on this animals. Valerian or the cat grass is used today as a tranquillizer for human usage. Our cats, since they can no longer wonder around the fields, are cured. You don’t have to worry that your cat will become a junky.

Siberian reindeer is a true hippie! This animal enjoys eating the world’s best known hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita. These mushrooms are to be found near conifers and birches. Ethologist have noticed that these reindeer are running around, shaking their head and being very loud, after eating this mushroom. Among hippie animals are also the Canadian karibu, some squirrels and some of the American rodents like to take a bite on these mushrooms.

Jaguar likes to chew jadzu, as the locals like to call this Latino-American herb. This herb is psychoactive and it works the same on humans as well as on animal does. In Peru, Ecuador and Columbia, Indians were collecting this herb and marinate them for later usage. They were preparing Ayahuasca, their traditional drink whit it.

Every year, in February, thousands of American robins are migrating to California. There they gather on the trees known as Californian holly tree, where they eat raw berries. Scientist, Ronald Seigel, who was observing these birds, noticed that they eat approximately 30 berries every day and only 5 are more than plenty for these birds. Soon there came the explanation. These berries while raw contain, to us still unknown intoxicating substance which keeps these birds up for parties.

Kava Kava which grows in Polynesia and Malaysia is traditionally being used for preparation of an intoxicating drink, the natives like to drink. This herb is not only popular among the locals, but the rats like them too.

You have found out that not only people do crazy stuff, animals are pretty vicious too. They seem to be more determinate to get some than humans do. At the end they have no conscience and no moral or any other laws to obey, so they are more rein-less than we are or maybe not… Wonder what are the side effects except the visible ones.

This parasitic plant develops the world’s largest bloom that can grow over three feet across. The plant has no leaves, stems, or roots. It smells bad and has a hole in the center that holds six or seven quarts of water.

Hydnora Africana

The unusual flesh-colored, parasitic flower that attacks the nearby roots of shrubby in arid deserts of South Africa. The putrid-smelling blossom attracts herds of carrion beetles.

Dracunculus Vulgaris

It smells like rotting flesh, and has a burgundy-colored, leaf-like flower that projects a slender, black appendage.

Amorphophallus

The name means “shapeless male genetalia”, comes from the shape of the protruding black spadix.

Wollemia Nobilis

This bizarre looking tree was known only from 120 million-year-old fossil leaves before 1994, fewer than one hundred that exist in the wild. They have strange bark that looks like bubbles of chocolate, multiple trunks, and ferny-looking leaves growing in spirals. They can grow up to 125 feet tall.

Welwitschia Mirabilis

This flower consists of only two leaves and a stem with roots. Its two leaves continue to grow until they resemble an alien life form. The stem gets thicker rather than higher, although this plant can grow to be almost 6 feet high and 24 feet wide. Its estimated lifespan is 400 to 1500 years. Mirabilis grows in Namibia, and is thought to be a relic of the Jurassic period.

Drakaea Glyptodon

It’s an orchid. It is the color of, and smells like, raw meat. Pollinated by male wasps.

]]> http://www.stellasmagazine.com/the-most-unusual-plants/feed/ 0 http://www.stellasmagazine.com/cute-baby-seal/ http://www.stellasmagazine.com/cute-baby-seal/#comments Sun, 26 Jun 2011 11:18:45 +0000 julia http://www.stellasmagazine.com/?p=2221 Seals, fin-footed mammals, are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae (the walrus), Otariidae (eared seals, including sea lions and fur seals), and Phocidae (earless seals).