New BBC Documentary Shows Dolphins Getting High on Puffer Fish Dina Spector - Business Insider
go to original January 4, 2014

These three dolphins found this puffer fish and decided that it made a wonderful toy. Don't worry, no puffer fish were killed in the making of this video! (Joseph Cox)

A new documentary series by BBC One, called "Dolphins: Spy in the Pod," reportedly shows young dolphins getting "high" off a nerve toxin released by pufferfish and then passing it around.

In a widely-circulated quote from The Sunday Times, zoologist Rob Pilley, who worked as a producer for the series, says that the dolphins "are purposely experimenting with something we know to be intoxicating," which led to them to enter a "trance-like state."

“After chewing the puffer gently and passing it around, they began acting most peculiarly, hanging around with their noses at the surface as if fascinated by their own reflection,” he said.

The assumption is that the dolphins are deliberately antagonizing the pufferfish and know just the right amount of toxin to ingest to get narcotic benefits.

Read the rest at SFGate

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