On 2018-10-31 20:27, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Wednesday, October 31, 2018 at 7:15:27 PM UTC-4, Joerg wrote:
Snipped
Squirrels aren't very smart and they probably don't think about
the consequences of what they eat. I saw one scarf down a big
mushroom the size of a hand. The next day I saw a dead squirrel
less than 10ft from there. Who knows, maybe it wanted to go over
the rainbow bridge with some major brain fireworks.

-- Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Some people think that if they see a squirrel eating any mushroom
that the mushroom is safe for humans too. That is utterly FALSE.

http://www.mushroomthejournal.com/gr...s/squir27.html

"According to Dr. John Rippon, an IMA member and world expert on
fungal diseases, squirrels have an interesting adaptation that allows
them to eat mushrooms containing deadly amanita-toxins without being
affected. There are three important chemicals in the amanitas. Two
will knock you right off, but are destroyed in cooking. The third one
is the interesting one: it consists of the second amanitin, bound
tightly to a glycoprotein molecule. When we digest the mushroom, the
enzymes in our gut break the bond between the toxin and the
glycoprotein, leaving the toxin free to enter our bloodstream, while
the glycoprotein is excreted (a glycoprotein is a mucus molecule, in
case you don't know). What the squirrels have done is line their gut
with a toxin-compatible glycoprotein, so that as soon as it gets
split from its original glycoprotein molecule, it gets rebound to the
squirrel glycoprotein, and excreted along with it. Obviously, the
squirrels don't cook their food to destroy the first two molecules,
but presumably those get bound in exactly the same way. Thus,
squirrels and a few other animals (guinea pigs also, I believe) can
eat mushrooms that are highly toxic to other animals with no ill
effects."


Yes, they can eat mushrooms. However, this fellow ate the whole thing
and it was bigger than he was. Gut lining only goes so far. I don't know
if it was him but the next day I found a dead squirrel of same
appearance not far from this spot and it didn't look like hit or
attacked by anything or fallen out of a tree (no high trees there).

Some humans do this stuff, too, for whatever reason, except they use
syringes.


Also, certain amanita mushrooms/toadstools have a toxin that is NOT
DESTROYED BY COOKING! Thus even if those are cooked they remain toxic
to humans. Also, some varieties of the amanita genus of
mushrooms/toadstools have NO KNOWN ANTIDOTE.


I know. That's why all my mushroom-collecting friends and relatives kept
saying not to eat any mushroom unless an expert has deemed it ok, and
only if you can really trust that person. My solution is to buy any
mushrooms I eat in the store.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/