Category:
Animals

Elephants on marijuana

As the author of Elephants on Acid, this news story naturally caught my eye:

The Warsaw zoo said Wednesday it will start giving its elephants medical marijuana as part of a ground-breaking pilot project to test how it reduces their stress levels. Medical cannabis has been used worldwide to treat dogs and horses but "this is probably the first initiative of its kind for elephants," Agnieszka Czujkowska, the veterinarian in charge of the project, told AFP. The zoo's three African elephants will be given liquid doses of a high concentration of the relaxing cannabinoid CBD through their trunks.

Elephants are notorious for being VERY resistant to the effect of drugs. That's why, in the 1962 'elephants on acid' experiment, the experimenters gave the elephant a massive dose of LSD — and injected it — to make sure it would have an effect. As it turned out, the LSD had a dramatic effect. The elephant dropped dead.

It seems that the Warsaw Zoo researchers are being far more cautious. They're initially only giving the elephants a dose of CBD equivalent to what a horse would receive. Plus, the elephants will be ingesting it, which allows the drug to enter their system more gradually (as opposed to an injection). So my guess is that the CBD will have very little effect on the elephants. Unless the dose is later dramatically increased.

More info: ibtimes

Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 29, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Drugs

Futz!

First it was a play.

Bestiality - oh final horror - has come to Off-Broadway. It came last night at the Theater de Lys in a play called "Futz!" The strange thing is - and is this a sign of the corruption of our society? - the crime, act, fact, or whatever you want to call it, of bestiality would have come to Broadway itself if another show, "Leda Had A Little Swan", had not been beastly enough, and sadly, boring enough, to collapse during previews before the scheduled opening. However, Rochelle Owens's "Futz!", which I saw at one of its final previews, has beaten its controversial path into our ken. And I must say I am glad it did...

Cyrus Futz is a simple farm boy who happens to be in love with his pig, Amanda. Indeed he regards Amanda as his wife. As he tells his pig: "We tried to go to church but they wouldn't let us in - so I read you the Bible at home." However, Cy and Amanda are no normal couple, and the seedy normality of the village turns upon them and Cy is murdered by vengeful villagers.


Source of quote.

Then it was a film.

The creator's Wikipedia page.



Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 23, 2020 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Hillbillies, Country Bumpkins, Ruralism and Flyover Country, Movies, Sexuality, Fetishes, Sex Lives Worse Than Yours

Alligator Joe’s

Florida alligator farms as tourist attractions are legendary and well known. One of the first such was Alligator Joe's.

Here is a long read about the place.

And after the images is the account of one fellow who almost did not return from a visit to Joe's.








Article source.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Aug 09, 2020 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Death, Regionalism, Tourists and Tourism, Twentieth Century

Croaker College

A training school for frog contestants in jumping competitions.

Full SPORTS ILLUSTRATED story here.



Source (page 7).

Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 06, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Education, Frauds, Cons and Scams, 1970s

The woman who thought she was a chicken

A recent issue of the Dutch journal Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie (Journal of Psychiatry) reports on the case of a woman who believed she was a chicken. From the report (via Google translate):

Patient A, a 54-year-old woman, consulted the emergency department with her brother for acute attacks of deviant behavior, expressing the belief that she was a chicken and displaying behavior reminiscent of it.

Clinically, we saw a lady profusely sweating, trembling, blowing her cheeks and displaying stereotypical behavior in which she seemed to imitate a chicken, such as clucking, cackling and crowing like a rooster. After ten minutes, she seemed to tense the muscles for a few seconds, her face flushed and she did not respond for a short time. These symptoms repeated at intervals of several minutes, between which anamnesis was possible. The patient's consciousness was fluctuating, attention was hyper-reactive and the patient was disoriented in time and space. Her memory could not be tested objectively, but she could adequately tell her history.

She said she had barely slept since five days and wandered barefoot and dressed in a dressing gown on the street at around 4 a.m. the previous night. A general feeling of unwellness had been present for several days, as well as a strange feeling in the limbs, as if they no longer fit her body and flapped uncontrollably. The patient expressed the thought of being a chicken and that they had been forgotten to roost her.

Patient's brother added that he found her in the garden in the same condition as we saw her now. Between that moment and the registration with us, the bizarre behavior in attacks occurred.

The researchers note that clinical zoanthropy (the belief that one has turned into an animal) is an extremely rare delusion. Apparently there have been only 56 cases of this reported between 1850 and 2012. Some of the animals people believe they have become include "a dog, lion, tiger, hyena, shark, crocodile, frog, bovine, cat, goose, rhinoceros, rabbit, horse, snake, bird, wild boar, gerbil and a bee."

More info: The Guardian

Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 04, 2020 - Comments (13)
Category: Animals, Bad Habits, Neuroses and Psychoses, Psychology

Porpoise in toilet

I've heard of alligators in the sewer, but not porpoises in toilets.

I haven't been able to find out if there was ever a solution to the mystery of how a porpoise came to be in the toilet of the Glasgow train station. I'm assuming student pranksters were probably involved.

Ottawa Journal - Dec 7, 1965

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jul 27, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Fish, Bathrooms, 1960s

National Association for the Improvement of the Appearance of Hogs

I suspect the National Association for the Improvement of the Appearance of Hogs had only one member.

Legislators gathering here for the opening of the 19th session Tuesday have received word that a representative of the National Association for the Improvement of the Appearance of Hogs will seek to advise them during the session. In all apparent seriousness the writer urges that the appearance of swine should be uniform and artistic, not only that they might be less offensive to the eye but that the bristles might have a better sale.

Argus Leader - Jan 5, 1925

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jul 25, 2020 - Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, 1920s

Johnnie the Tractor-Driving Monkey

The 1977 video below features both Johnnie and his son, Johnnie II. But mostly Johnnie II.

The owner of both, Australian farmer Lindsay Schmidt, said of the original Johnnie:

"I trust him with my life driving the tractor. He can hold it on a hill and keep it from slowing down. You should see him holding that wheel as he skirts the hill and I work behind.

We take it in turns to drive and toss off the hay to the sheep and cattle."



Billings Gazette - Jan 17, 1965

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jul 24, 2020 - Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Farming, Motor Vehicles

Mr. Drake’s Duck

Wikipedia page.



Posted By: Paul - Sat Jul 18, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Movies, Science Fiction, 1950s

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Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

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Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

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