What is
Bufo Alvarius?
CHARACTERISTICS
Bufo Alvarius is sometimes called the Sonoran Desert toad or the Colorado River toad. It is 3-7 inches in length and is the largest native toad in the United States. It is olive green to dark brown in color. It has smooth, shiny skin covered in warts. It’s belly is cream-colored, and it has one to two warts on the corners of its mouth and large raised warts on its rear legs. Its call is a low-pitched hoot.
HABITAT & LIFESTYLE
The Bufo toad is found in and around the Sonoran Desert in California and in Arizona south to Mexico. Bufo lives in desert and semi-arid areas. It is also found in arid grasslands and woodlands. It is semi-aquatic and usually lives near large streams. It is sometimes found near springs, temporary rain pools, canals and irrigation ditches. A Bufo toad spends most of the summer months in a burrow that it digs or in a rodent hole.
Just before spring rain hits the desert, Bufo toads gather at breeding pools and streams. Mating occurs from May to July. The female lays strands of black eggs, There can be as many as 8,000 eggs in a strand. The tadpoles hatch within 2-12 days. After breeding season is over, Bufo returns to its burrow, where it spends the winter.
The Bufo toad is nocturnal and stays underground during the heat of the day. When Bufo is threatened, is secretes a milky-white halluciongenic toxin from the parotid glands under its jaw. If the toxin gets in the mouth of predators it can cause nausea and even death.
VENOM & SCIENCE
5-MeO-DMT
Both the plant and animal worlds are sources of the psychoactive tryptamine compound 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine). It was first described in plants in a member of the family Rutaceae called Dictyoloma incanescens. It is also found in high concentrations in the parotid gland secretions of Bufo. A 2010 review article cites several references indicating 5-MeO-DMT has been detected in human urine, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid and may also be synthesized in the retina and is released from the pineal gland in the moment of death. In fact elevated levels of 5-MeO-DMT and its analogs have been detected in the body fluids of people suffering from psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.
Interestingly, researchers are finding that 5-MeO-DMT is only one of many compounds in so-called toad venoms. Just like psilocybin mushrooms, it’s the influence of all the compounds in toad secretions that is responsible for the overall “psychedelic” experience for the user. For example, a 2018 study found that a 50mg dose of vaporized bufotoxin secretions (containing 5-7mg of 5-MeO-DMT) from Bufo gave the same intensity of mystical experience as a high dose (30mg/70kg) of pure psilocybin. However, there was a significant increase in the intensity of the mystical experience from the vaporized toad secretions compared to a moderate/high dose (20mg/70kg) of pure psilocybin. The latter result shows that the mixture of compounds in the toad secretions was more potent than the moderate/high dose of pure psilocybin in creating a full mystical experience. Therefore, an experience with 5-MeO-DMT alone would not be expected to have all the effects and possible benefits of the complete, naturally-occurring mixture of compounds in toad secretions.