A booger capable of giving both pleasure and suffering (6 photos)

Insects are unpleasant looking creatures. Well, subjective, of course. For them, perhaps, we are also those monsters. But the poor things have to endure their leathery neighbors on the planet. But this insect, although not scary in appearance, is worthy of taking its rightful place in the galaxy of all sorts of monsters and maniacs. True, with a caveat.





We're talking about the blister beetle, which is represented all over the world by as many as (oh my god) 7,500 different species. The colors of the beetles are also very different - monochromatic pearlescent, matte dark, even dotted like ladybugs. But always noticeable: in this way, blister bugs make themselves known to birds, animals and other insects - stay away.



Because the beetle has the ability to secrete the poison cantharidin - a very, very unpleasant substance. When it comes into contact with the skin and mucous membranes, it literally eats away at the tissue, causing redness, blisters and ulcers. And if by some chance someone ingests poison, then the chances of dying are very, very high: the poison causes nausea, vomiting, convulsions, problems in the digestive, nervous and cardiovascular systems.





Adult insects are classic pests. They destroy a variety of garden crops and destroy flowers. And the larvae become parasitic on other insects, usually locusts and bees.

By the way, an interesting point: if a person or animal who swallowed a blister, for example, with grass, feels very, very bad, then toads and frogs can go on a blister diet without any consequences for themselves. In addition, they not only consume poison, but also accumulate it, thereby becoming time bombs themselves. Hedgehogs also feast on beetles without harm to health, as well as some birds, even the most common chickens.

There's medicine in the spoon, there's poison in the cup



Aesculapians of all times adhere to this principle. And rightly so, since in small doses a variety of substances can benefit the body. Even the notorious cantharidin.

And European citizens used blisters in the old days not only to, for example, eliminate a competitor on the way to power. From beetles, healers made drugs with a wide range of effects - rubs, tinctures, even plasters. Which could both poison and cope with inflammation, depending on the concentration of the active substance.



And the blister people (not voluntarily, of course) wrote a special chapter with their cantharidin in such a delicate area as the area of ​​pleasure. The beetles, also known as Spanish flies, were dried, crushed and used to stimulate sexual desire. Even the most highly moral and strictly educated citizens participated in orgies after tasting (not always knowing about it) the drug from Spanish fly. But not everyone survived, because side effects and contraindications, which not everyone knew about, made themselves felt.



This practice continued until the last century. Even now, if you try, you can find bug-based aphrodisiacs on sale. But in tiny quantities. Blisters live for their own pleasure, causing mischief to everyone and everything, since in the pharmaceutical field they use synthetic and much less harmful analogues.