(ORDO NEWS) — A new study has found that monkeys are actively looking for fruits that have fermented enough! Such fruits can contain about 2% alcohol.
If a person drinks alcohol for the sake of feeling intoxicated, then primates do it for a completely different …
Biologist Robert Dudley of the University of California at Berkeley, USA, has been studying people‘s love for alcohol for the past 25 years, and in 2014 he suggested that this “attachment” began with our primate ancestors.
A new study confirms the “drunken monkey” hypothesis and expands our understanding of how the love of alcohol first formed in the human brain.
As part of the work, biologists collected the remains of fruits that were left by the primates of Geoffroy’s coat (Ateles geoffroyi) living in Panama. In addition, the scientists collected urine samples.
It turned out that the fruits were fermented and contained 1 – 2% alcohol. And urine tests showed that it contains secondary metabolites of alcohol.
“For the first time, we have been able to show without a shadow of a doubt that wild primates consume fruit containing ethanol without human intervention,” the authors write.
“This is just one study and more needs to be done, but it looks like there may be some truth to this ‘drunken monkey’ hypothesis.”
As part of the work, the scientists also noted that some fruits known to be eaten by primates have a naturally high alcohol content of up to 7%.
Do primates feel drunk?
“The monkeys most likely ate fruit with ethanol for calories and extra energy,” the scientists say.
They doubt that primates feel the intoxicating effects of alcohol, which humans appreciate. “They probably don’t get drunk because their intestines fill up before they reach the level of intoxication,” the authors explain.
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