PSYCHOACTIVE FAUNA

   The term psychoactive fauna comes from the Greek noun psuchè (life breath, spirit, soul, mind), the Latin adjective activus (active), and Fauna, the name of the Roman goddess of fertility. It is used to denote the group of animals whose body parts or excretions contain one or more substances which, in a sufficiently high dose, have the potential to alter the user's state of consciousness. The existence of psychoactive fauna is less well known than that of *psychoactive plants. And yet the utilization of animals for the purpose of obtaining hallucinatory effects dates back to ancient times. Some examples of animals with a known hallucinogenic potential are species of toads, frogs, salamanders, newts, snakes, scorpions, wasps, and fishes. For specific details on various types of psychoactive fauna see the entries Ant-ingestion and hallucinations, Bufotenine and hallucinations, Hallucinogenic salamander brandy, Dream fish, and Ichthyoal-lyeinotoxism. A person intentionally employing any species of psychoactive fauna for the purpose of exploring the psyche may be called a * psychonaut.

   References

   Rudgley, R. (1998). The encyclopaedia of psy-choactive substances. London: Little, Brown and Company.