Wild Chimpanzees Found to Consume Naturally Fermented Fruit

Swift Summary

• Wild chimpanzees consume the equivalent of two glasses of wine per day based on their body size compared to humans.
• Research conducted by Aleksey Maro from the University of California, Berkeley studied alcohol levels in fruits eaten by chimpanzees at two locations: Ngogo, Uganda, and Taï National Park, Ivory Coast.
• eastern chimps preferred ripe fruits from fig trees (Ficus mucuso), while western chimps aimed for Guinea plum (Parinari excelsa) and bitterbark fruit (Sacoglottis gabonensis).
• Alcohol concentration in the fruits averaged between 0.3-0.4%.
• Chimpanzees consume about 10% of their body mass daily in fruit pulp,translating into approximately 14 grams of pure ethanol per day-similar to humans consuming two glasses of wine accounting for weight differences.
• Findings support the “drunken monkey hypothesis,” suggesting evolutionary exposure to fermented fruit influenced human attraction to alcohol through reward association with finding fruit sugars.
• Further studies are analyzing urine samples from wild chimpanzees to measure actual ethanol ingestion levels.

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