Atlantis Online
March 28, 2024, 05:43:20 pm
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Ruins of 7,000-year-old city found in Egypt oasis
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080129/wl_mideast_afp/egyptarchaeology
 
  Home Help Arcade Gallery Links Staff List Calendar Login Register  

Dinosaurs May Have Munched On This 'Magic' Fungus 100 Million Years Ago

Pages: [1]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Dinosaurs May Have Munched On This 'Magic' Fungus 100 Million Years Ago  (Read 217 times)
0 Members and 97 Guests are viewing this topic.
Melody Stacker
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 4550



« on: February 23, 2015, 01:07:51 am »

Dinosaurs May Have Munched On This 'Magic' Fungus 100 Million Years Ago
 By Macrina Cooper-White



Mind-altering drugs aren't new--in fact, even dinosaurs may have been getting high back in the Cretaceous Era.

That's the word from a new study of the oldest grass ever found, which was discovered encased in amber in Myanmar. The 100-million-year-old fossilized grass is host to Palaeoclaviceps parasiticus, an extinct parasite similar to the fungus ergot, which is known for producing intense side effects like hallucinations and convulsions when consumed -- and can even be deadly.

“It seems like ergot has been involved with animals and humans almost forever, and now we know that this fungus literally dates back to the earliest evolution of grasses," Dr. George Poinar, Jr., a paleo-entomologist at Oregon State University and the study's lead author, said in a written statement.“There’s no doubt in my mind that it would have been eaten by sauropod dinosaurs, although we can’t know what exact effect it had on them.”
Report Spam   Logged

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Melody Stacker
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 4550



« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2015, 01:08:37 am »

Humans have a long history with ergot. Thousands of people died in Europe in the Middle Ages from ergotism, also called "St. Anthony's Fire," a condition which resulted from eating ergot-infected grains. And more than 1,000 compounds, including the drug lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), have been derived or extracted from it, according to the statement.

The best way to guess at how an ergot-like fungus would have affected dinosaurs, Poinar told The Huffington Post in an email, is to look at their descendants -- reptiles and birds. For instance, ergot can lead to deadly spasms in reptiles, while it produces strange disfigurations in chickens, he said.

As for whether the dinosaurs actually "got high?"

"It could have affected their mental state if the compounds in the fossil ergot were similar to those in present day ergot," Poinar said in the email. But we may never know.

The study was published in the 2015 issue of the journal Palaeodiversity.
Report Spam   Logged
Melody Stacker
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 4550



« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2015, 01:08:51 am »

http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2015/feb/amber-fossil-links-earliest-grasses-dinosaurs-and-fungus-used-produce-lsd
Report Spam   Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum
Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy