www.sciencedaily.com
Chimpanzees routinely consume alcohol in significant quantities from naturally fermenting fruit, averaging the equivalent of one to two alcoholic drinks daily for humans. This discovery supports the “drunken monkey” hypothesis, suggesting that alcohol consumption is an ancient primate behavior, not a modern human phenomenon. This finding raises intriguing questions about the ecological role of ethanol as an environmental cue for animals and the evolutionary implications of alcohol exposure in primates.
