Chimpanzees might bond over alcohol in a similar way to humans, according to researchers, who captured rare footage of our closest living relatives sipping and sharing fermented fruit. Researchers trained motion-activated cameras on fermented African breadfruit in Guinea-Bissau's Cantanhez National Park and observed wild chimpanzees consuming the fruit on 10 occasions. Tested for alcohol content, the fruit was found to contain up to 0.61% alcohol by volume—not enough "to get roaring drunk but, possibly, enough for a fuzzy beer-buzz feeling," per the Guardian.
"For humans, we know that drinking alcohol leads to a release of dopamine and endorphins, and resulting feelings of happiness and relaxation," while "sharing alcohol, including through traditions such as feasting, helps to form and strengthen social bonds," says Anna Bowland, a PhD student at the University of Exeter studying animal-ethanol interactions. "The question is: could [chimps] be getting similar benefits?" Chimps don't always share food, "so this behavior with fermented fruit might be important," adds Kimberley Hockings, a conservation scientist and lecturer at Exeter, noting fruit makes up a large part of a chimp's diet.
Researchers say chimps are unlikely to get drunk off of fruit, as this would likely hurt their chances of survival. But because chimps of all ages and sexes seemed to take part in the consumption—at times favoring small fermented pieces of fruit over large, unfermented pieces—"this behavior could be the early evolutionary stages of feasting," says Hockings. "If so, it suggests the human tradition of feasting may have its origins deep in our evolutionary history." The team, whose research is published in Current Biology, now hopes to investigate whether chimps seek out fruits containing alcohol and how they metabolize it, per the BBC. (More chimpanzees stories.)
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