[HN Gopher] The Mystery of Australia's Paralyzed Parrots
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The Mystery of Australia's Paralyzed Parrots
Author : sohkamyung
Score : 25 points
Date : 2023-06-15 13:15 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.scientificamerican.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.scientificamerican.com)
| visarga wrote:
| It's hard to compete with stochastic parrots /s
| moi2388 wrote:
| I bet they both just sit in strychnine trees. Eat some of the
| fruits. The fruits, flowers and even bark are poisonous. Their
| fruits can cause paralysis.
| AnotherGoodName wrote:
| I was thinking Australian paralysis tick in my head but it's
| too obvious since they leave a bite mark. They're everywhere
| atm.
|
| I wonder if eating a paralysis tick has any effect though?
| Being bitten is obvious but does eating one cause issues? Both
| animals mentioned eat bugs as well as plants.
| kulahan wrote:
| Why wasn't this a problem for them a decade ago? Also, what do
| you mean by "both of them"?
| BariumBlue wrote:
| The article also mentions fruit bats also showing paralysis
| symptoms
| aaron695 wrote:
| [dead]
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| Solvency wrote:
| Plants are full of defense mechanisms in the form of plant
| toxins. Even in humans, common/popular foods can contain oxalates
| which, despite being deemed relatively benign, can cause problems
| in some people: https://www.webmd.com/diet/foods-high-in-
| oxalates.
|
| It is interesting to think that this is a new potential plant
| defense mechanism, whose cause can be related to climate change,
| evolution, or some other unknown catalyst.
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(page generated 2023-06-16 23:02 UTC)