What do you think?
Rate this book
Animal Mycophiles: Critters That Hunt, Farm, Self-Medicate and Get High on Fungi
Uncover the secret lives of animals and fungi in Animal Mycophiles, a journey into a hidden world of surprising partnerships. From worms feasting on fungi to elephants seeking medicinal mushrooms, this book reveals the captivating ways in which creatures interact with the fungal kingdom. Discover how animals hunt, farm, self-medicate, and even get intoxicated on mushrooms, all while playing a crucial role in the delicate balance of nature. Prepare to be amazed by the intricate web of life beneath our feet. Animal Mycophiles explores a relatively uncharted territory in the study of animal-fungi relationships. While some scientific research exists on specific interactions, this book uniquely synthesizes a broad spectrum of these connections, from foraging and farming to self-medication and even the consumption of psychoactive fungi. It assembles these diverse examples into a comprehensive narrative, revealing the surprising extent to which animals rely on and interact with the fungal kingdom, a topic not yet explored in a single book. This holistic approach, uncovering " secret lives" and " surprising partnerships," distinguishes Animal Mycophiles as a pioneering work in understanding this vital ecological dynamic.
192 pages, Paperback
Published September 2, 2025
About the author
Eva Gordon
32 books375 followersWebsite http://www.ravenauthor.com
http://evagordon.blogspot.com/
Eva Gordon writes genre bending paranormal/fantasy/steampunk and historical novels with a strong romantic element. Alpha heroes and brilliant feisty heroines. HEA with a kick. She loves to create stories that combine her passion for mythology, steamy romance, and action/suspense. Her imagination takes her from one universe to the next. Thus far, she has several series up as well as single titles waiting in line for production.
http://evagordon.blogspot.com/
Eva Gordon writes genre bending paranormal/fantasy/steampunk and historical novels with a strong romantic element. Alpha heroes and brilliant feisty heroines. HEA with a kick. She loves to create stories that combine her passion for mythology, steamy romance, and action/suspense. Her imagination takes her from one universe to the next. Thus far, she has several series up as well as single titles waiting in line for production.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 30, 2026
This book was somewhat interesting, but then the author got to the part about mammals consuming mushrooms and presented pure pseudoscience:
The author repeatedly treats speculation as established fact. Animals are said to have a “natural knowledge of the healing properties of plants and fungi,” and their consumption of mushrooms is repeatedly described as self-medication, even when the examples given establish only that the animals eat those fungi. Deer eating maitake, bears eating chaga, gorillas eating Ganoderma, and chimpanzees eating particular mushrooms do not by themselves demonstrate medicinal intent. The book simply assumes that because a fungus has reputed or experimentally observed biological activity, an animal eating it must be using it therapeutically.
The pharmacological claims are similarly careless. Mushrooms are described as providing “immune system enhancement, infection fighting, reduced inflammation, improved digestion, and even protection against parasites,” while compounds such as polysaccharides, triterpenes, and polyphenols are invoked as evidence of “potent pharmacological activities.” But identifying bioactive compounds in a mushroom does not establish that an animal receives a medicinal dose by eating it, or that those compounds produce the claimed effects in that species. The repeated movement from chemical composition to therapeutic benefit skips the basic questions of dosage, absorption, metabolism, and demonstrated physiological effect.
Some of the specific examples make the problem especially obvious. The suggestion that chaga “may help bears stay healthy during their long hibernation periods” is immediately followed by the admission that “there hasn’t been serious research on the bear-chaga connection.” That is not evidence of animal self-medication; it is a conjecture presented in a context that encourages the reader to treat it as biologically meaningful. Likewise, the statement that maintaining strong immune systems is important for deer is used to lend medicinal significance to their consumption of maitake, even though that reasoning does nothing to show that deer eat the mushrooms for their anti-inflammatory properties.
The elephant claims go further still. Finding Ganoderma in elephant dung shows that elephants consumed it. It does not establish that they deliberately sought it as medicine, yet the author describes this as “showcasing a species feeding on medicinal mushrooms for self-medication” and later claims that the evidence confirms a “deliberate quest” for the fungus as a nutritional supplement. Those conclusions require evidence of selective behaviour and a demonstrated benefit, not merely evidence that the fungus passed through the animals’ digestive systems.
The discussion of sloth fur makes the same leap in another form. Fungi isolated from sloth hair are said to be capable of producing compounds with antiparasitic, anticancer, and antibacterial properties, and this is quickly turned into talk of treatments for malaria, Chagas disease, cancer, and antibiotic resistance. The existence of bioactive compounds is a legitimate starting point for research. It is not evidence that sloths are benefiting medicinally from those fungi, nor that those organisms will yield effective human therapies. The book consistently substitutes possibility for demonstration and then presents that possibility in the language of discovery.
(Nate Tricowi)
The author repeatedly treats speculation as established fact. Animals are said to have a “natural knowledge of the healing properties of plants and fungi,” and their consumption of mushrooms is repeatedly described as self-medication, even when the examples given establish only that the animals eat those fungi. Deer eating maitake, bears eating chaga, gorillas eating Ganoderma, and chimpanzees eating particular mushrooms do not by themselves demonstrate medicinal intent. The book simply assumes that because a fungus has reputed or experimentally observed biological activity, an animal eating it must be using it therapeutically.
The pharmacological claims are similarly careless. Mushrooms are described as providing “immune system enhancement, infection fighting, reduced inflammation, improved digestion, and even protection against parasites,” while compounds such as polysaccharides, triterpenes, and polyphenols are invoked as evidence of “potent pharmacological activities.” But identifying bioactive compounds in a mushroom does not establish that an animal receives a medicinal dose by eating it, or that those compounds produce the claimed effects in that species. The repeated movement from chemical composition to therapeutic benefit skips the basic questions of dosage, absorption, metabolism, and demonstrated physiological effect.
Some of the specific examples make the problem especially obvious. The suggestion that chaga “may help bears stay healthy during their long hibernation periods” is immediately followed by the admission that “there hasn’t been serious research on the bear-chaga connection.” That is not evidence of animal self-medication; it is a conjecture presented in a context that encourages the reader to treat it as biologically meaningful. Likewise, the statement that maintaining strong immune systems is important for deer is used to lend medicinal significance to their consumption of maitake, even though that reasoning does nothing to show that deer eat the mushrooms for their anti-inflammatory properties.
The elephant claims go further still. Finding Ganoderma in elephant dung shows that elephants consumed it. It does not establish that they deliberately sought it as medicine, yet the author describes this as “showcasing a species feeding on medicinal mushrooms for self-medication” and later claims that the evidence confirms a “deliberate quest” for the fungus as a nutritional supplement. Those conclusions require evidence of selective behaviour and a demonstrated benefit, not merely evidence that the fungus passed through the animals’ digestive systems.
The discussion of sloth fur makes the same leap in another form. Fungi isolated from sloth hair are said to be capable of producing compounds with antiparasitic, anticancer, and antibacterial properties, and this is quickly turned into talk of treatments for malaria, Chagas disease, cancer, and antibiotic resistance. The existence of bioactive compounds is a legitimate starting point for research. It is not evidence that sloths are benefiting medicinally from those fungi, nor that those organisms will yield effective human therapies. The book consistently substitutes possibility for demonstration and then presents that possibility in the language of discovery.
(Nate Tricowi)
March 22, 2026
The copyright page states that this book was made without AI. That's either not true, or it needs several more rounds of editing. The number of times "delve" is used in this book alone makes reading it almost unbearable. Entire paragraphs consist of sentences rehashing the same idea, while saying almost nothing of substance. The information presented is interesting but gets bogged down in the repetitive writing style that makes this book such a struggle to get through.
January 2, 2026
I really enjoyed this read. I thought it was well thought out and interesting. It offered new facts and information I had never heard or considered. It also led me to other authors and books
Now on audible! Love it!
Now on audible! Love it!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews