Animals in a frenzy

D 2025

Drug alert in the animal kingdom! Animals use substances that we call drugs. Why? Chimpanzees have been observed stuffing their stomachs with fermented star apples. Are our closest relatives into alcohol and are they aware of its effects and consequences? Biologist Aleksey Maro is investigating this in Uganda. He is testing the alcohol content in the fruit and in chimpanzee urine: as much as a beer or two glasses of wine? The elaborately shot nature film not only discovers the secret of "intoxication in the rainforest" but also explores a small "high society" in nature: dolphins playing with the danger of a narcotic neurotoxin carried by puffer fish. Lemurs who get high on a poisonous millipede to protect their health, risking their lives in the process. Beetles that act as "drug dealers" and make an entire ant colony dependent and docile with a mysterious substance. And cats who indulge in a relaxing quarter-hour trip thanks to the beguiling effect of Nepeta Cataria mint.

In the second part, the nature film oscillates between fiction and truth in intoxicatingly beautiful images of jungle lianas, poppy fields and toadstools. In the Amazon jungle of Ecuador, jaguars chew on ayahuasca lianas. They are known for their psychedelic substance DMT. Ethnobotanist Rocio Alarcón wants to find out whether it also "works" on the predators.

In Namibia, the honey badger is exposed to the paralyzing poison of scorpions and shows symptoms similar to intoxication. In Slovakia, hundreds of swans ended up in an "opium hell". Why did they fall for the addictive substance in a poppy field and never get off? The New Zealand fruit pigeon with the melodious name Kererū loves overripe fruit. Is that why it is conspicuous for "flying under the influence of alcohol"? The legendary fly agaric can stun flies. But does it also send reindeer into a mushroom frenzy when they gorge themselves on red caps?

These are familiar or completely alien states, triggered by toxic substances found in nature. Intoxicating images soberly observe how it manifests itself, the intoxication in the animal?