Can Spiders Get High From Smoke?
WouterOne of the first documented cases of chimpanzee smoking in Europe was in 1635. This occurred in The Hague. This occurred because the chimpanzee’s craving for THC, the main ingredient in cannabis, had led them to smoke.
Afterwards, a scientist named Peter Witt became interested in spider web patterns. He thought that the patterns could be useful in determining the toxicity of chemicals. He tested different drugs in an attempt to find out what made the spiders create webs.
He found that cannabis, LSD and caffeine had a profound impact on how the spiders spun webs. When the spiders were under the influence of these substances, they built haphazardly woven webs with large gaps. They did not weave in detail, and they gave up on the web much faster than the spiders on benzedrine.
Another study conducted by NASA in the 1990s used spiders in a similar manner. Using modern tools, the scientists measured and photographed the webs and compared them with normal and drug-induced webs. The results showed that the more toxins the spiders were given, the more damaged the webs were.
As a result, researchers concluded that arachnids could replace other animals in testing the toxicity of chemicals. Some of the substances tested included morphine, caffeine, chloral hydrate, mescalin and ethanol.
After the experiments, the researchers noticed that the arachnids acted drowsy, avoiding spinning the longest threads on the outer corners of their webs. These behaviors may have been caused by carbon monoxide, or possibly the lack of oxygen.
