The other day, I came across this article: Chimpanzees found routinely drinking alcohol in the wild.
In this article, David Mercer claims that "Primates in Guinea drank fermented palm sap using a leafy tool as a sponge."
Scientists have discovered a group of booze-loving apes who may hold the key to why humans enjoy drinking alcohol.
Experts say they have found the first empirical evidence of “long term and recurrent ingestion of ethanol” among apes in nature.
hey observed wild chimpanzees in the town of Bossou in Guinea, west Africa, over 17 years and watched as the primates drank fermented palm sap using a leafy tool as a sponge.
The chimpanzees consumed the alcoholic beverage, often in large quantities, despite an alcohol presence of up to 6.9 per cent ABV - the equivalent of a strong ale, according to a study published by the Royal Society.
The amount of alcohol ingested ranged from about 2.5 to 84ml and there was no difference between males and females.
Experts said that, unlike other examples of primates ingesting alcohol, such as introduced green monkeys targeting tourist cocktails in the Caribbean, the chimpanzees' attraction to fermented palm sap at Bossou was not a result of provisioning by local people.
My question is this: Do other naturally occurring alcohol (ethanol) drinks exist in a natural setting as in forests, plains, savannas, etc., without man's intervention on a regular basis?