Chimpanzees Eat Fermented “Booze”

Researchers have found that wild chimpanzees can ingest the equivalent of about 2.5 alcoholic drinks per day by eating naturally fermented fruit. The finding lines up with the “drunken monkey” hypothesis, which argues that primates, including early human ancestors, evolved to tolerate and even seek low levels of alcohol because it signaled ripe, calorie-rich food.

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