Been seeing a lot around lately. Been a wet August, eh
From that article, “In this case, the mushroom spores were eaten by cattle and expelled in their feces. When suitable temperature and humidity conditions were met, they sprouted on the dung and grew into mature mushrooms,” I wonder if cows get high when they eat the mushroom’s?! I also think our intrepid hiker knew exactly what he was frying up!
I’m sorry, I have looked and looked, but I simply cannot find the snake anywhere in those photos!
And it doesn’t seem we are over it yet!
Generally cows dont eat their own feces… the spores wouldnt get them to hallucinate, the actual mushrooms in enough quantity most likely would. But again, most cows dont eat their own shit 
nor the contamination growing from.it.
Not do they have a level of consciousness that could be affected by any amount of psilocybin. Dr Milker excepted, of course.
Did a little Googling on this, very interesting results! Some animals are said to actively seek out various mushroom types and hallucinogenic plants possibly to get high. Good example on Reindeers!
Magic mushrooms & Reindeer - Weird Nature - BBC animals - YouTube
And Jaguars!
jaguar tastes the hallucinogenic effects of yage - YouTube
Cows do occasionally have bad trips though
The police have it under control anyway…at least they did for an hour or so in 2014
Surprise for man who unwittingly finds magic mushrooms in Yangmingshan - YouTube
Animals have consciousness and hallucinations. And psilocybin doesn’t only affect consciousness but also provoke hallucinations. What I don’t know is if cows have the right receptors for it (probably… yes?)
I was expecting this other:
Psychedelic cow says yes.
Well, to be more scientifically minded, that is a huge assumption…
I showed that video to my cat. She looked at it for a while and then tuned to me and said, “See, I told you to never trust those dumb cows!”
I can Just see that you’ve paired that look with a Grateful Dead shirt.
Ok , I was being flippant for comedic purposes.
Yes, it is hard not to argue that all animals have some consciousness to different degrees. And it is certainly clear that different drugs can affect them in many ways that are similar to humans. Classic series of experiments from the sixties of drugging spiders with various drugged flies to see the effects on their web making. Which eerily parallel the effects seen in humans.
Lots of experiments since then of course. Squid are widely used to probe questions of consciousness for example. They even have similar sleep patterns to humans
I am not unaware
probably your cat was like:
Ahh gotcha.
I always find it fascinating how people come from the wierdest angles to study. Logic would have it that all animals are capable of thought and experience consciousness. This seems baseline common sense. I feel the need to study to prove this is an artifact from religious brainwashing, and has ignored millenia of otherwise more realistic human study and evolution. We really ought to be proving they dont have “human qualities” (that term is pretty gross really, but many people think our species is special in the realm of thought) and move forward. Humans are so damn ego centric it sometimes, perhaps often, even trumps true scientific pursuits.
As an aside, we liked getting bugs high when kids as well…seems cruel now as we already know they are indeed affected by certain chemicals and they most certainly are sentient.
Two really good books on the topic of animal consiciousness: one very new
Metazoa : the evolution of animals, minds , consciousness and sleep
Peter Godfrey-Smith
and another quite a bit older:
Kinds of Minds
Daniel Dennet
Well, I guess I should also throw in an earlier book by Godfrey-Smith on the topic
OTHER MINDS : the octopus and the evolution of intelligent life.
Some fine examples of what you can grow indoors at home! .