Getting tipsy on the weekend may not be for everyone. In a paper published Wednesday, biologists and wildlife researchers argue that alcohol consumption in the animal kingdom is probably more common than currently thought. But there’s still a lot we don’t know, including whether animals want to talk.
There are many legends involving wild animals that look drunk, from baboons to elephants to a variety of birds. But while a few animals are known to regularly consume alcohol-rich foods, such as Cedar waxwings and robin birds, the practice of drinking alcohol among wild animals is generally thought to be rare and uncommon. Biochemist Matthew Carrigan and his colleagues say this assumption doesn’t really hold water when you start looking at the big picture.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out that humans aren’t the only animals that benefit mentally and psychologically from consuming ethanol.”
For one thing, the type of alcohol most people drink, ethanol, has been around for a long time. In nature, it is mainly caused by the fermentation of sugars commonly found in nectar and fruit by yeast fungi. According to the researchers, molecular evidence shows that yeast has been making ethanol for at least 100 million years. And these days, sources of ethanol can be found in almost every type of ecosystem. Like drinks at a bar, some fermented fruits have a higher alcohol content than others; these fruits tend to grow in hotter parts of the world.
“Since the Cretaceous period, juicy fruits have provided a sugary resource for fermenting yeast and natural ethanol production. Therefore, the inclusion of ethanol in animal feed is possible in the past,” the researchers wrote in their paper, published in the journal. Trends in Ecology & Evolution.
Another evidence is that some animals have evolved to handle their alcohol better. The basic genes related to the enzymes that allow organisms to break down ethanol appear to have been around for a long time, perhaps predating the evolution of yeast, but some nectar and fruit eaters are very good at it. Humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas in particular have significant mutations related to certain stomach enzymes, for example, while arboreals appear to have an enhanced alcohol-related enzyme produced by their liver. And another study published this week found that Eastern hornets can apparently consume unlimited amounts of alcohol without ill effects. This adaptation shows that drinking alcohol is common enough for at least some wild animals.
Although alcohol use in the animal kingdom may be more common than we think, there are still many unanswered questions about it, researchers say. Having fun as a drink in a bar may be for us, for example, the possible intoxicating effects on wild animals would probably be an undesirable aspect, because it would impair their ability to defend themselves or escape from danger. So that raises the question of why any animals would even like to eat food rich in alcohol.
It is not known whether any wild animals can even detect the presence of alcohol in the food which may, for example, reduce the chances of the animals accidentally removing this food. Fermented fruits are also lower in calories than their unfermented counterparts, meaning they have no natural nutritional advantage. But perhaps these fruits are the best choice left for other animals at a given time or they may come with other nutritional benefits that are worth any trade-off (fruit with alcohol is likely still high in sugar, for example). Some animals may use ethanol medicinally, such as flies that appear to lay their eggs in alcohol-based environments to avoid insects.
And yes, for those baflies who wonder, it is also possible that some critics experience the euphoric buzz that people have when they drink and look at this food actively, despite the dangers.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we find that humans aren’t the only animals that benefit psychologically and psychologically from consuming ethanol. As to whether that encourages them to seek it out—that’s a good question,” Carrigan, a professor at the College of Central Florida, told Gizmodo.
Carrigan and her colleagues next plan to look at how non-human primates interact with alcohol, particularly the effects alcohol can have on the animals’ behavior and social lives. And they hope to better understand the chemistry of how animals digest alcohol.
Speaking for myself, the next time I see a cedar crunching or deep with a beak of ripe berries, I’ll be sure to sympathize with him—we’ve all been there, friend.
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