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Weird but Wonderful: Parrots Prefer Poppies
Nature is a gift, so vast and varied that none of us can fully know or appreciate it. Some aspects of the natural world — the warmth of the sun, the cooing of a dove, the pitter-patter of rain drops on our roof tops, are quite familiar. Others we may find weird but wonderful, bizarre but beautiful — or downright astonishing and sometimes terrifying. This is the fourth in a series. Please join me each week (normally on Mondays) as I share some observations about aspects of nature that may be less familiar to many.
I am sitting down to write, having just finished my first cup of coffee for the day. Coffee contains caffeine, a mild stimulant which many people crave in the mornings, as it helps them summon the energy to begin a new day. And in the evening, some of them may turn to a glass of brandy or a cocktail to wind down before bed. We humans have identified a wide range of drugs to alter our moods, to induce euphoria, or even to give us visions of a different reality.
One of those drugs is opium, the resin that forms in the seed pod of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) after the flower begins to fade. While harvesting opium is illegal in most countries, it is an important agricultural crop in India, where it is produced for the health care industry.
