One of the most active and interesting lines of research when it comes to animal behavior is that linked to their alcohol consumption, which once we thought we were our exclusive and which, especially in recent years, has proved to be much more widespread than we thought.
So far, however, most of the studies have focused on the physiological effects of alcohol consumption, which usually happens thanks to fermented fruit; Now a new research published on Current Biology He shows for the first time (as you can see in the video below) a “social” use of alcohol, with a group of chimpanzees who pass the fruit to get better getting better.
From bread to wine. The study is published by a team from the University of Exeter, who managed to film extraordinary behavior in a group of chimpanzees who live in the Cantanhez National Park, in the Guinea-Bissau. Animal observations have documented at least ten different instances of chimpanzees that not only they consume fermented fruit, but they pass it.
The food comes from the African bread treewhose fruits are particularly rich in sugars and therefore ferment are very easilycoming to develop a Alcoholic rate of 0.6% – Not great if compared with the alcohol we drink we humans, but potentially significant in the face of great fruit consumption.
The social value of alcohol. We already knew that chimpanzees love to paste with the fruits of the bread tree. We had never seen them, however, fruits as to want to share alcohol with the rest of the group: in general, these animals are not famous for their mutual generosity when they talk about food, and the fact that they make an exception for alcohol is particularly interesting.
In fact, the doubt comes that, as it applies to us humans, too For chimpanzees the exchange of alcohol has first of all a social valuea way to form new ties or strengthen the existing ones. Is it possible that this ritual is the ancestor of our alcoholic holidays?
