Chimps ‘lager a day’ in ripe fruit fuels drunken monkey theory

Scientists found that wild chimpanzees consumed the equivalent of a bottle of lager alcohol a day from eating ripe fruit.

They prove that people may have received our alcohol pleasure from common primate ancestors who rely on fermented fruit, which is a source of sugar and alcohol for food.

Berkeley, Aleksey Maro, a study researcher at the University of California, said, “People’s purchase of alcohol has probably emerged from this dietary heritage of our common ancestors with chimpanzees.” He said.

Chimpanzees, like many other animals, are fed with mature fruits lying on the floor of the forest, but this is the first work that clarifies how much alcohol they can consume.

The research team measured the amount of ethanol or pure alcohol in fruits such as figs and plums, which were eaten in large quantities by the wild chimpanzees in Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda.

Normally, based on the amount of fruit they ate, chimpanzees swallowed 14 grams of ethanol equivalent to about two UK units or a roughly 330ml of lager.

The most eaten fruits were the highest in alcohol content.

The research adds weight to the hypothesis “drunk monkey” – the idea that the appetite of the alcohol is inherited from our primate ancestors.

This was first proposed by Prof Robert Dudley of California University in Berkeley, a co -researcher.

Scientists were initially suspicious. However, Prof Catherine Hobaiter, a primatologist at the University of St Andrews, which is not part of the research team, has recently observed more observations about “scraping monkeys” in recent years.

“What we noticed from this study is that our relationship with alcohol is to return to evolutionary time, probably about 30 million years,” BBC said. He said.

“Maybe for chimpanzees, it is a great way to create these social ties, to hang together on the floor of the forest, to eat falling fruits.”

Dr Kimberley Hockings, who examined primates at Exeter University and is not included in the research, said that it is important to state that chimpanzees in this study did not consume enough alcohol to get drunk. “This will not openly increase the chances of survival,” he said.

Accordingly Association of International NatureChimpanzees are extinct and the biggest threats they face include farming, logging and ways to build forest houses to the ways or losing ways to build.

The research was published in the magazine Science progress.