Curious and fun images, captured in 2013 by the BBC cameras: a group of young people Tursiopi dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) that in turn hits with the nose And hesitation a ball Rigonfio, and then remained darling, shaded eyes, letting himself be carried away by the waves. As if they were “drug addicts“. The ball fish, in fact, contains a powerful inside poisonthe Carthotossinecapable of killing a dolphin but that if it is released in small quantities in the water, while it is caught, it would instead give an intoxicating effect. For documentarists who have taken the bizarre behavior through a spy cameras disguised in other objects this would be proof that dolphins use ball fish a recreational purposeannoying and gnawing them to release a bland dose of poison in the water and “passing it around” almost as if it were a spinel. Since then, the idea has spread that dolphins, like many animals, deliberately use some type of drugs. But the explanation does not convince everyone: first of all There are no scientific studies that confirm itthe behavior was observed only another time, it would be very difficult for dolphins “dose“The right amount of toxin without risking poisoning themselves, and there is the possibility that they were only playing, unaware of the side effects.
Do the dolphins “drug”? Expert doubts
But there are many elements that make it doubt about the true intent of dolphins’ behavior. An expert toxicologist, Christie Wilcoxexpressed perplexity on the actual ability of the dolphins to “regular” with due precision the quantity of toxin released so that it causes intoxicating effect without becoming mortal. There Carthotossine It is one of the most lethal substances in nature, and a few milligrams, albeit dispersed in the water, can also kill a large animal like a dolphin.
According to Wilcox, the dolphins filmed were experimenting with the initial stages of the Curledotoxin paralysiswhen the intoxicating effect can soon give way to the total loss of control of corporal functions. The “high” would have been nothing more than a side effect of excessive curiosity, and the expert doubts that that group of dolphins (or the species in general) was a “serial user” of the substance. Also because the Tetrodotoxin does not alter the perception As many narcotic substances used by other animals do, but rather causes progressive numbness. Observed from the outside, a dolphin in torpor due to slight quantities of fosteroxin could in fact seem like if it were under the influence of drugs, but it is not said that the experience is pleasant for him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T5aglybxes
The one practiced by dolphins could be a game
The anecdotes Furthermore, on dolphins that are high with ball fish, there are very few. In the scientific literature available, in fact, an event similar to that observed by BBC documentaryists is mentioned only once, in an article of the 1995 on the behavior of the Steno Bredanensis, A species different from that of the documentary. Young dolphins would have been seen play In the same way with four Palle Palla Rigonfi, and then remain motionless on the surface, with the back and fin in sight, letting himself be carried away by the waves.
The rarity of this behavior, especially if compared with the frequency of the use of drugs in other animals, therefore suggests one Alternative explanation. The dolphins did not want to “get high” with the ball fish, but they were more simply playing. The game is in fact very frequent in all cetaceans, and younger dolphins are particularly playful And curious: they often interact with objects that captain each one, with the bubbles emit from the venerable, and with their food before consuming it.
It is therefore possible that the young dolphins in question, in the grip of their natural curiosity, have played too hard With an animal without their knowledge, very poisonous, and then undergo the side effects of the release of the toxin in the water, comparable to those of a high. A foam that could end much worse than that.
The effects of the Curtodotoxin: the poison of the fish ball
Although not only in the ball fish, the tetrodotoxin takes its name from their family, that of tetraodontid. It is a very powerful neurotoxin from the effect paralytic which is also found in some molluscs and amphibians. It is not the fish that produce it, but some species of bacteria which are found in their body in a symbiotic way. CEO Acts the obstructing i Sodium cell channelsfundamental for the transmission of signals through the nervous system, but the guest organisms have evolved, independently, an adaptation that alters one of the proteins of these channels and prevents them from being blocked by toxin, remaining like this immune to their effects.
In addition to being very poisonous, ball fish is a (risky) delicacy: the fugudish based on ball liver, one of the most dangerous parts of this animal. Forbidden in almost all other countries, it is among the most famous dishes of Japanese cuisine, but is prepared only by certified chefs in Japan, with special techniques capable of making it a non -lethal dish. Despite the precautions, the poison’s poisoning, although very reduced today compared to the past, remain a possibility.
The feeling of numbness caused by minimum doses of ball poison ball therefore made it think that the behavior of the dolphins was due precisely to the desire to experience a feeling of thrill. It would not be the first time that the animals “getting” about it: some monkeys eat ripe fruit for its alcoholic content and many species consume others psychoactive substances As opiates, hallucinogenic mushrooms and much more, up to in some cases to real dependence.
