41–50 of 118 posts
I wonder if perhaps the elephant simply finds the outburst of smoke entertaining?
Very interesting. I think it's unlikely that we are the only species that ingests materials/chemicals that make us feel good, aside from providing any nutritional value.
The Caapi vine is also the main ingredient in the psychedelic Ayahuasca brew drunk by the Amazonian shamans.
"Smoking I find the most ridiculous of all the varieties of human behavior and practically the only one that is entirely against nature. Can you imagine a cow or any animal taking a mouthful of smoldering straw then breathing in the smoke and blowing it out through its nostrils?" - Ian Flemming, Goldfinger.
I guess I find his statement ridiculous, because it seems quite natural for some to enjoy smoking, and others to not. It is therefore definitely not "entirely against nature". It's merely that what happens in reality didn't correlate with his beliefs.
Smoking tobacco was a routine cultural thing in the Americas before the Europeans came along.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
IIRC the nutrient that makes cats obligate carnivores is taurine. Although it can be found in seaweed, or synthesised in a lab, cats and water makes me think this is unlikely in nature. (That said, human edible != cat edible, don’t just feed seaweed to your cat without asking an expert). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28849526/
> IIRC the nutrient that makes cats obligate carnivores is taurine. > That said, human edible != cat edible, don’t just feed seaweed to your cat without asking an expert Or energy drinks.
(Also: not all energy drinks are vegetarian, so wouldn’t always solve the diet puzzle even if you confirmed it as safe).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wouldn't the elephants say the same when watching a human smoking? Besides, swallowing charcoal and inhaling charcoal are completely different, I don't know how much good the latter would do for the stomach.
Remember the elephants trunk is it's hand, not just it's nose, it's clearly putting something into its mouth after blowing off the ASH dust. http://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-you/health/stomach-pain-rel...
I don't see much value in trying to use logical speculation to generalize such behaviors to an entire species. Anybody who has observed animals and pets will have noticed how each and every animal has its own personality, likes, dislikes and peculiarities. Just like people, who, despite our airs, are just another species. Some of my pets eat people food which my other pets don't even look at. Some of them play with b…
How is the the youtuber making sure the cat still gets stuff like taurine? I ask because I've always heard that cats are obligate carnivores and cannot live off a vegan/vegetarian diet[1]. [1] https://pets.webmd.com/features/vegetarian-diet-dogs-cats
A cursory search shows that small levels of taurine is available from vegan sources. Goat and buffalo milk appear to be the best vegetarian source, but, if ~75mg/day for a cat is correct, neither seem close to significant enough.
According to this video [0], it is not something of carbon that the elephant puffs, but a "puffball mushroom". I was very eager to believe in his words when I watched that yesterday. It was because that the day before, I had watched another video [1] of from that channel featuring something really similar that he calls "earth star fungi" this time, at 1:35. Leaving his words aside, it also is much more believable to…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
IIRC the nutrient that makes cats obligate carnivores is taurine. Although it can be found in seaweed, or synthesised in a lab, cats and water makes me think this is unlikely in nature. (That said, human edible != cat edible, don’t just feed seaweed to your cat without asking an expert). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28849526/
> IIRC the nutrient that makes cats obligate carnivores is taurine. > That said, human edible != cat edible, don’t just feed seaweed to your cat without asking an expert Or energy drinks.
They are finicky creatures.