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Naturebang: Drunk Moose and the Drive to Get Loose

Drunk Moose and the Drive to Get Loose

BBC Radio 4 - Naturebang, Drunk Moose and the Drive to Get Loose

What can a drunken moose, stuck in a tree, tell us about our drive to get intoxicated?

What can a drunken moose, stuck in a tree, tell us about our own quest for intoxication?

Becky Ripley and Emily Knight tackle a serious question. One of supreme scientific importance: do animals get wasted?

From drunk moose stuck in trees, to wasted wallabies asleep in opium fields, to dippy dolphins puffing on toxic pufferfish; stories abound about animals who seem to be using their free time to get sloshed. But do these stories, delightful as they are, stand up to scrutiny? In the natural world, when your survival relies on keeping your wits about you, what could be the evolutionary purpose of dulling your wits with psychoactive drugs? 

Come to think of it, why do we do it? And what's the connection between getting high, seeing God, and learning to love your neighbour?

Produced by Becky Ripley and Emily Knight. Featuring zoologist Lucy Cooke, and Professor Richard Miller at Northwestern University.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Factual: Science & Nature

Making sense of what it means to be human by looking to the natural world.

Becky Ripley and Emily Knight make sense of what it means to be human by looking to the natural world... Science meets storytelling with a philosophical twist.

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