Chimpanzees Consume Alcohol Equivalent of Two Drinks Daily, Study Finds
A new study has found that chimpanzees consume the equivalent of more than two standard alcoholic drinks each day, thanks to the ethanol content in the fruits they eat. This discovery supports the 'drunken monkey' hypothesis, suggesting that human attraction to alcohol may have roots in our primate ancestors' diet.
The research, led by biologists Aleksey Maro and Robert Dudley from the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed fruits commonly eaten by chimpanzees in Uganda and Ivory Coast. They found that the 21 species of fruit sampled had an average alcohol content of 0.26% by weight. Chimpanzees, which consume about 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) of fruit per day, with fruit making up about three-quarters of their diet, are thus exposed to significant amounts of ethanol.
The team also discovered that male and female chimpanzees consume about 14 grams of pure ethanol per day, equivalent to one standard American drink. When adjusted for body mass, this consumption is nearly two drinks per day for chimpanzees. This isn't an isolated case; birds also consume alcohol as part of their diet, with alcohol metabolites found in the feathers of 10 out of 17 species tested. More primatologists now report seeing monkeys and apes eating fermented fruit, supporting the 'drunken monkey' hypothesis.
The findings suggest that alcohol consumption may have played a role in the evolution of primates, including humans. It's hypothesized that our common ancestor with chimpanzees consumed alcohol from fermented fruit daily, and this attraction to alcohol may have been passed down to us. Further research is needed to fully understand the implications of these findings.
