Recent observations found chimpanzees living in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa love to party.
Scientists watched these rowdy chimps use leaves as tools to guzzle palm wine, Oxford Brooks University reported. The study offers the first empirical evidence of "repeated and long-term" alcohol ingestion in wild apes.
"Some individuals were estimated to have consumed about 85 [milliliters] of alcohol (which is the equivalent to 8.5 UK units) and displayed [behavioral] signs of inebriation," said Kimberley Hockings, a researcher at Oxford Brookes University.
Another recent study found chimpanzees share a genetic mutation with humans that allows them to metabolize ethanol, but non-captive chimps had never before been observed to voluntarily ingest it.
The wild chimps were observed to harvest fermented sap from the raffia palm using a leafy tool as a drinking device. The absorbent leaf was dipped into the opening of the sap container and brought to the mouth for drinking. High quantities of alcohol consumption were observed across all age and sex classes in the chimpanzee population.
"Our research demonstrates that there is not a strict aversion to food containing ethanol in this chimpanzee community," Hockings said. "This new use of elementary technology shows once again how clever and enterprising humankind's nearest living relations are."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the Royal Society journal Royal Society Open Science.
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