Curios: Birds Are Getting Hooked on Cigarettes

Even some species of birds are getting hooked on cigarettes — but not for the reason you might think. Instead of suffering from a debilitating nicotine addiction, blue tits across Europe are hoarding cigarette butts to ward off parasites using the natural and artificial toxins in tobacco and cigarette butts, as the New York Times reports. It’s a bizarre evolutionary outcome resulting from an otherwise ecologically damaging side effect of our collective smoking addiction.

"Birds Are Getting Hooked on Cigarettes", Victor Tangermann; March 21, 2026

Ed. Note — the real reason birds became extinct.