In 2014, University of California, Berkeley biologist Robert Dudley wrote a book called The Drunken Monkey: Why We Drink and Abuse Alcohol. His controversial “drunken monkey hypothesis” proposed that the human attraction to alcohol goes back about 18 million years, to the origin of the great apes, and that social communication and sharing food evolved to better identify the presence of fruit from a distance. At the time, skeptical scientists insisted that this was unlikely because chimpanzees and other primates just don’t eat fermented fruit or nectar.
But reports of primates doing just that have grown over the ensuing two decades. Dudley co-authored a new paper published in the journal Science Advances reporting the first measurements of the ethanol content of fruits favored by chimps in Ivory Coast and Uganda, finding that the chimps are consuming 14 grams of alcohol every day, the equivalent of a standard alcoholic drink in the US. After adjusting for the chimps’ lower body mass, the authors concluded the chimps are consuming nearly two drinks per day.
Earlier this year, we reported that researchers had caught wild chimpanzees on camera engaging in what appears to be sharing fermented African breadfruit with measurable alcoholic content. That observational data was the first evidence of the sharing of alcoholic foods among nonhuman great apes in the wild. They recorded 10 instances of selective fruit sharing among 17 chimps, with the animals exhibiting a marked preference for riper fruit. Between April and July 2022, the authors measured the alcohol content of the fruit with a handy portable breathalyzer and found almost all of the fallen fruit (90 percent) contained some ethanol, with the ripest containing the highest levels—the equivalent of 0.61 percent ABV (alcohol by volume).
This post brings up an interesting aspect of chimpanzee behavior and their relationship with alcohol. It’s fascinating how closely their habits can mirror some aspects of human life. The research sounds intriguing and adds depth to our understanding of animal behavior.
Absolutely! It’s fascinating how their natural consumption of alcohol could offer insights into the evolutionary aspects of social behavior among primates. It makes you wonder how these habits influence their interactions within groups.
behavioral traits of early humans. It’s interesting to consider how these habits might reflect our own evolutionary history and the role of fermentation in our diets. Understanding this can really deepen our appreciation for both chimpanzees and human development!
Absolutely, it’s fascinating to think about how these behaviors could provide insights into our evolutionary past. The way chimps engage with alcohol might also suggest that the consumption of fermented fruits could have been a factor in the social and cognitive development of early humans. Such parallels could help us understand our own relationship with alcohol today.
You’re right; it’s intriguing how studying chimpanzees can shed light on the evolutionary roots of human behavior. Their ability to seek out fermentation in fruits might suggest that the attraction to alcohol has deep-seated origins in our species. It also raises questions about social bonding and rituals surrounding alcohol consumption in both chimps and humans.
Absolutely! It’s fascinating to think about how their alcohol consumption might reflect behaviors in early human societies. This connection could provide valuable insights into our own relationship with alcohol throughout history.