How do you smoke a toad? If this question sounds strange to you, I recommend that you continue reading because, in this post, I want to examine a unique category of psychoactive substances -

Those that can (or cannot) be found in animals. This category includes a very limited group of substances - a group that I call Zoopsychedelics.

The presence of psychoactive substances in nature is not a rare thing, and examples of psychoactive from nature are bound to pop on this wall regularly. But almost always, the source of these substances comes from either the plant or mushroom kingdoms - psychedelics whose origin or transitional form is related to the animal kingdom are vanishingly rare.

Now every animal that can move independently produces substances that can be called ‘psychoactive’ - because that's how nervous systems work (jellyfish - which move without a nervous system, are an interesting exception to this). On the other hand, the fact that our body endogenously produces and releases substances such as DMT or anandamide, for example, does not mean that we can take humans and milk them for DMT. When it comes to organisms in the animal kingdom that produce and store psychoactive molecules in significant quantities in areas of their bodies that humans can utilize, then as far as I've found, it's an extremely small group of organisms, so let's start with the most famous example of them: the bufo toads. We're talking about a family that includes several subspecies of toads found in North and South America, the best known of which is the Sonoran Desert toad. These toads contain glands located behind their eyes that produce and store a cocktail of substances that many of the toad's natural enemies view as poisons and therefore avoid them.

One of the most prominent substances found in large quantities in these glands is a substance called 5-MeO-DMT (there is also bufotenin which I recently mentioned in the context of Amanita muscaria where it is reported to also be found in low doses - a fact that is heatedly debatable). This substance is probably not noticed when ingested because it is broken down by monoamine oxidase - A. Which brings us back to the question I started with: How do you smoke a toad?

Well, the shamans in Peru and the scene enthusiasts in Mexico and North America have an answer. They usually squeeze the glands and “milk" the toads. The toads don't seem to mind. They probably don't enjoy it, but it seems that it doesn't hurt them either. Smoking 5-MeO-DMT gives the person who inhales it a strong yet short lasting meeting with God. The bufo toads are probably the most prominent example of Zoopsychedelics, but are they alone?

Regrettably this question is difficult to answer conclusively. There are reports of psychoactive fish to the extent that Hamilton Morris covered the following story: “The Fish That Gets You High: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N3j5g066CU”. Although watching the video “leaves us hanging” for want of a conclusion…

There are also reports of rituals from the 19th century detailing how people ,in India, swallowed dumplings containing ants that induced a trance-like state. Not entirely convincing - leaving us with the bufo toad as the only clear example.

I find that addressing the question as to why we find many plants and fungi containing psychoactive substances but not many animals unless they are immobile animals like sea sponges (in which you can find an uncharacteristically high density of psychoactive substances) an unavoidable question with an answer that seems to be glaring out teasingly and is worthy of quick elucidation.

I've already hinted at the key property here, which is mobility. Mobility is driven by specialized molecules that have evolved, namely - the neurotransmitters that control movement.

It seems like nature is telling us clearly that if predation can be avoided by moving away, then movement or mobility is the preferred solution. In the absence of the ability to move - the solution becomes a solution of generating a survival warning. Impractical terms this means biosynthesizing a toxin or a psychoactive. By sacrificing itself, the prey "teaches" predators not to eat it because they will be poisoned to death or inebriated into incapacitation and statistically - die.

I'd like to close this post by thanking Ian A MacKenna for pointing out that readers should be warned that 5-MeO-DMT is one of the most powerful psychedelics that we know and should be used with lots of guidance and caution.