What does a mushroom get out of making animals trip?
Here are three of our best theories: The first is that fungi might not get anything from producing psilocybin. Maybe the compound is an evolutionary accident like our widow’s peaks, or a relic from the species’ past, like our tailbone nubbins. Another idea is that maybe it helps them fend off hungry critters… after all, soil-bound species make all sorts of chemicals whose bitter taste or toxins keep herbivores at bay. A third idea is that psilocybin helps the fungus spread its reproductive spores far and wide. Like, say a slug munches on a mushroom, triggering a psilocybin-induced seizure. That tripping-out slug with a belly full of spores might attract the attention of a toad, which might eat the slug, and then hop far away before it poops out the spores. So, despite a lot of study, scientists still don't have a grand unified theory of what psilocybin does for fungi. For now, the bottom line is that when it comes to our scientific understanding of psilocybin, there is still so mushroom for improvement. MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info If you like what we do, you can help us! - Become our patron: https://patreon.com/MinuteEarth - Buy our merch: http://dftba.com/minuteearth - Buy our book: https://minuteearth.com/books - Sign up to our newsletter: http://news.minuteearth.com - Share with your friends and family - Leave us a comment (we read them!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices