Whether it’s a packed beer garden or a cosy country inn, one thing is for certain – Brits love the pub.
Now, it seems we’re not alone.
A new study has revealed that wild chimpanzees also love getting drunk with their friends.
Scientists from the University of Exeter have filmed wild chimpanzees eating and sharing fruit containing alcohol for the first time.
According to the experts, this suggests that alcohol may have benefits for social bonding in chimps – just like humans.
‘For humans, we know that drinking alcohol leads to a release of dopamine and endorphins, and resulting feelings of happiness and relaxation,’ explained Anna Bowland, an author of the study.
‘We also know that sharing alcohol – including through traditions such as feasting – helps to form and strengthen social bonds.
‘So – now we know that wild chimpanzees are eating and sharing ethanolic fruits – the question is: could they be getting similar benefits?’
Scientists from the University of Exeter have filmed wild chimpanzees eating and sharing fruit containing alcohol for the first time
Whether it’s a packed beer garden or a cosy country inn, one thing is for certain – Brits love the pub. Now, it seems we’re not alone (stock image)
The scientists spotted the boozing chimpanzees in Guinea-Bissau’s Cantanhez National Park.
On 10 separate occasions, cameras set up around the park filmed chimps sharing fermented African breadfruit – a fruit confirmed to contain alcohol.
The highest level found was the equivalent of 0.61 per cent Alcohol By Volume (ABV).
While this is relatively low, the scientists say it may be the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
Around 60 to 85 per cent of chimps’ diet is fruit, so even low levels of alcohol could add up to ‘significnat consumption’, the experts said.
The scientists don’t currently know what the impact of alcohol is on chimps’ metabolism.
However, they believe that this could be the early evolutionary stages of ‘feasting’.
‘Chimps don’t share food all the time, so this behaviour with fermented fruit might be important,’ said Dr Kimberley Hockings, an author of the study.
The scientists spotted the boozing chimpanzees in Guinea-Bissau’s Cantanhez National Park
On 10 separate occasions, cameras set up around the park filmed chimps sharing fermented African breadfruit – a fruit confirmed to contain alcohol
‘We need to find out more about whether they deliberately seek out ethanolic fruits and how they metabolise it, but this behaviour could be the early evolutionary stages of ‘feasting’.
‘If so, it suggests the human tradition of feasting may have its origins deep in our evolutionary history.’
The researchers now hope to carry out a longer study to see how chimpanzees interact with one another over extended periods of time.
‘Our data provide the first evidence for ethanolic food sharing and feeding by wild nonhuman great apes, and supports the idea that the use of alcohol by humans is not “recent” but rather rooted in our deep evolutionary history,’ they concluded in their study, published in Current Biology.
‘To fully understand this in a social context, requires data on the role of social alcohol consumption in reinforcing social bonds and building social capital, including the exchange of other goods, between extended-kin and non-kin, and the degree to which ethanol ingestion is intentional or not.
‘This necessitates long-term observations of individuals with well-established relationships where changes in feeding and social behaviour can be monitored, alongside measurements of ethanol in foods.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .