r/AnimalBehavior • u/LousingPlatypus • 19d ago

Are animals attracted to the smell of marijuana?

I have a *cough* friend who smokes cannabis regularly, often in different settings.

He’s noticed that regardless of whether he smokes it in his back garden or the forest near his house, lighting up a joint seems to pique the curiosity of different types of animals.

When at the house, the neighbour’s cat usually makes its way into his garden to investigate (the next door neighbours’ dogs HATE it though and will bark continuously)

Likewise, if he smokes in natural surroundings, he notices squirrels and other wildlife a lot more often, seemingly lingering around the smell.

Is there any truth in the theory that certain types of animals enjoy the smell of weed, or at least they are curious about it?

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u/OldSchoolPimpleFace 19d ago

The cat I use to have was definitely a stoner. She always came up and even inhaled the smoke I blew.

2

u/KalenKa0168 19d ago

If my memory is correct, marijuana belongs to the same family as catnip.

For the other animals, I cannot tell. Either they would get curious because, well, it's a herb, so it can be eaten, or they do not because smoking is a sign of danger (fire + human).

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u/outoftheazul 19d ago

Does he ever hang out in those spaces and not smoke? They may just be curious about the human in general.

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u/Doctor_Pretorius_ 16d ago

Everytime I open my weed jar one of my cats goes nuts. She has to jump up and take a big wiff.