Night Howler Sickness

The **Night howler sickness**, often referred to as "**going savage**", is caused when a mammal is exposed to the poisonous flowers of *Midnicampum Holicithias,* which is known by the common name of "Night howlers". The toxic nature of the plant causes those afflicted to revert to a feral state, losing all semblance of rationality and becoming intensely violent to the point of attacking anything nearby.

## Symptoms

Night Howler sickness manifests when the toxin enters the bloodstream of a mammal.
Symptoms include:

* Convulsions
* Loss of higher brain function which causes the afflicted mammal to revert to feral behavior
* Increased aggressiveness
* Loss of self-control
* Loss of sapience
* Eyes change to an animalistic state.

The increased aggressiveness seems to override normal self-preservation. An example is Emmitt Otterton, who, while under the effects of the toxin, was quite willing to attack Renato Manchas, a jaguar and a predator who was several times larger than himself.

## Transmission

Night Howler sickness results when the toxin of the Night howler flower enters a mammal's bloodstream. Even simply ingesting the plant or inhaling the pollen and aromatic compounds of the flower can bring on symptoms.
In addition, the flower can be distilled into a concentrated liquefied toxin that will be absorbed by the skin and enter the bloodstream within seconds bringing on the symptoms immediately.

## Duration of Illness

When the toxin is ingested or inhaled, there is no objective evidence detailing how long the toxin remains in the system. However, anecdotal evidence does suggest that the symptoms do eventually subside.
However, when a mammal is poisoned with a concentrated dose of the serum, the effects last for months, possibly longer.

## Notable incidents

### Night Howler Conspiracy

Prior to Judy starting work in Zootopia, 14 mammals went missing and were later revealed to have "gone savage" with no explanation as to why. The Mayor of Zootopia, Leodore Lionheart, quickly responded to these outbreaks to avoid a public panic and assembled a team of elite wolf guards to capture the afflicted mammals and keep them contained at Cliffside Asylum until a cure could be found.
Dr. Madge Honey Badger, the doctor tasked with analyzing the patients, could find no reason for their sudden "savage behavior" and began to hypothesize that since all the affected animals were predators, perhaps the condition was due to their biology.
However, it is revealed that the outbreak of "predator savageness" was part of a deliberate conspiracy by Assistant Mayor Bellwether to alienate predators and shift political power to prey animals like Bellwether herself.
She employed the services of Doug Ramses, a ram scientist who had discovered how to cultivate and distill Night howler flowers into a serum that could be used as a weapon. Under Bellwether's instruction, predators were targeted and Doug went through the city shooting various predators with a paintball-like pellet filled with the serum turning them savage almost immediately.

### Uncle Terry

When Judy returned to Bunnyburrow, she learned that her father uses live *Midnicampum Holicithias* plants to keep bugs off the crops. She also learned that her father keeps the children away from the plants because her Uncle Terry once ate an entire plant and "went completely nuts" to point of biting a sizable chunk out of Bonnie's arm. Although there are no details of Terry's recovery, the conversation Judy, Bonnie and Stu have about him suggests that he did eventually return to normal and had not died or was institutionalized from eating a Night howler.
Learning that "Midnicampum Holicithias" is also known as Nighthowlers, makes Judy realize that savagery can be induced in predator and prey alike and it gives her a clue about how to solve the case of the savage predators back in Zootopia.

### Fru Fru's wedding

In *The Real Rodents of Little Rodentia*, Tru Tru arranges for Fru Fru's wedding bouquet to be made of night howlers, unaware of their effects. When Fru Fru throws the bouquet, Tru Tru catches it causing a blue mist to emerge that she and Fru Fru's bridesmaids inhale deeply, and immediately become savage. This strongly suggests that for small mammals like shrews and mice, even the pollen and aromatic compounds are enough to poison their bloodstream.

## Treatment

As part of revealing Bellwether's conspiracy, Judy and Nick had saved one pellet filled with the serum. This allowed the Zootopia medical community to develop an antidote that was used to rehabilitate the mammals who had been poisoned. ***It is unclear what treatment was used on Uncle Terry or Fru Fru's bridesmaids beyond simply letting the toxin run its course.***

## Known Cases

* Terry: Rabbit
* Emmitt Otterton: Otter
* Renato Manchas: Black Jaguar
* Barry DiCaprio: Grizzly Bear
* Stephanie Stalkinew: Leopard
* Many other unnamed predators
* Tru Tru: Arctic Shrew
* Brianca: Mouse
* Charisma: Shrew
* Christine: Shrew
* Mandy: Mouse

## Gallery

Savage Otterton.jpegZootopia Savage Manchas2.jpgTiger Jump at Nick.pngSavage Bear.pngGirlsGoingSavageRROLR.jpeg
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