Is there a little more human than collecting in groups to share food and participate in a fermented drink or two (or three, or …)? Researchers have caught wild chimpanzees on the camera that is involved in what similar activity seems to be: sharing fermented African bread fruits with measurable alcoholic content. According to a new article published in the Journal Current Biology, the observation data is the first proof of sharing alcoholic food with non -human large monkeys in the wild.
The fruit in question is seasonal and comes Treculia Africana Trees in common in the home environment of the Wild Chimps in Cantanhez National Park in Guinea-Bissau. Once mature, the fruits fall from the tree to the ground and slowly ripen from a hard, deep green outside to a yellow, sponging texture. Because the chimpanzees are not evaluated, the authors have implemented camera traps at three separate locations to include their nutritional and sub -behavior.
They registered 10 authorities of selective fruit distribution among 17 chimpanzees, with the animals showing a clear preference for Rijpfruit. Between April and July 2022 the authors the alcohol content of the fruit with a handy portable Breathalyzer and almost all the fallen fruit (90 percent) found some ethanol, where the best -containing levels contain – the equivalent of 0.61 percent ABV (alcohol for volume).
That is relatively low for alcoholic beverages that are usually consumed by people, but again, fruit accounts for 60 to 80 percent of the diet of the chimpanzees, so the amount of consumed ethanol can rise quickly. However, it is very unlikely that the chimpanzees would get drunk. It would not result in an evolutionary benefit, and according to the authors there are evidence in the common ancestor of African monkeys of a molecular mechanism that increases the ability to metabolize alcohol.
