A first-person account from off the beaten track, as told to Anne Ford.
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“It’s so tempting to just lump them in with plants, because they don’t move around. But we’ve known for a long time that they’re actually more closely related to animals. All fungi need to feed on other organisms, as opposed to plants, which generate their own food.
“The ones that will kill you will take 48 to 72 hours before they kill you. They’ll make you feel like you’re dying, and you’ll be spending a lot of time in the bathroom. That’s a good indication that you need to go to the doctor. If people tough it out and wait till their liver has been destroyed, at that point, they feel fine again. That’s when they’re really screwed, because all these toxins are building up in their system, and they’re going to keel over in the next few hours.
