Chimpanzees’ Boozy Fruit Habit Offers Insights into Human Alcohol Origins

Quick Summary

• Subject: A study reveals that wild chimpanzees consume fruits containing ethanol, equating to several alcoholic beverages daily.
• Details:

– Fruits eaten by chimps at Ngogo in Uganda’s Kibale National Park and Taï in Côte d’Ivoire contain about 0.3% ethanol by weight.- chimps eat an average of 10 pounds of fruit per day, resulting in the ingestion of approximately 14 grams of pure ethanol daily, comparable to about two drinks for humans adjusted for body mass.
– The findings align with the “drunken monkey hypothesis,” suggesting humans’ predisposition towards alcohol originates from ancestral exposure among primates consuming fermented fruits.
– Ripe fruits attract large groups of chimps, increasing social interactions such as territorial patrols.
– Alcohol consumption is not unique to chimps; other mammals like elephants, tree shrews, and birds also consume fermented materials.

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