Boozy chimps fail urine test, confirm hotly debated theory

"His controversial "drunken monkey hypothesis" proposed that the human attraction to alcohol goes back about 18 million years, to the origin of the great apes, and that social communication and sharing food evolved to better identify the presence of fruit from a distance."

"Earlier this year, we reported that researchers had caught wild chimpanzees on camera engaging in what appears to be sharing fermented African breadfruit with measurable alcoholic content. That observational data was the first evidence of the sharing of alcoholic foods among nonhuman great apes in the wild."

"The authors measured the alcohol content of the fruit with a handy portable breathalyzer and found almost all of the fallen fruit (90 percent) contained some ethanol, with the ripest containing the highest levels-the equivalent of 0.61 percent ABV (alcohol by volume)."

"After adjusting for the chimps' lower body mass, the authors concluded the chimps are consuming nearly two drinks per day."

Chimpanzees consume high levels of alcohol through fermented fruit, with urine analysis confirming regular intake. This finding supports Robert Dudley's controversial drunken monkey hypothesis, which proposes that human attraction to alcohol evolved approximately 18 million years ago with the origin of great apes. Recent research documents wild chimpanzees sharing fermented African breadfruit containing measurable ethanol, with fallen fruit containing up to 0.61 percent ABV. Studies measuring ethanol content in fruits consumed by chimps in the Ivory Coast and Uganda found daily consumption equivalent to nearly two standard drinks when adjusted for body mass, providing empirical evidence that primates actively seek and consume fermented fruits.

Read at Ars Technica