Chimps go ape over alcoholic sap, backing 'drunken monkey' theory

 Scientists have watched Bossou chimpanzees hold "drinking sessions" in Guinea

 
Paris: Scientists have discovered a group of booze-loving apes who may hold the key to why humans enjoy drinking alcohol.
A new study says wild chimpanzees enjoying opportunistic booze-ups on palm wine has shed light on a theory about evolution.


Chimps in the west African country of Guinea discovered a free treat in raffia palms tapped by local people to extract a sweet, milky sap which then ferments into an alcoholic drink.

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The apes scrunched up leaves in their mouths, moulding them into spongy pads that they then dipped into the sap-gathering container, which villagers attach to the tree near its crown.

Tests showed that the beverage's alcoholic content varied from 3.1 per cent to a whopping 6.9 per cent, the equivalent of strong beer.

Some of the chimps went a little, well, ape.

"[They] consumed significant quantities of ethanol [alcohol] and displayed behavioural signs of inebriation," the paper said soberly.

"Researchers rarely collected detailed behavioural data before versus after exposure to ethanol, but some drinkers rested directly after imbibing fermented sap."

The chimps are part of a closely observed colony at Bossou in southern Guinea.

In 2008, one of the animals made the headlines when he was found to use a stick to "fish" for ants - an important discovery in the use of tools by our primate cousins.

Cases of animals ingesting alcohol are not exceptional. They include Swedish moose that get drunk on fermented apples, and monkeys on the Caribbean island of St Kitts that sneak gulps from vacationers' cocktails