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A taste for alcohol: one more thing chimps have in common with us

科學家在對幾內亞的黑猩猩進行多年跟蹤觀察后找到了這些人類近親喝酒的證據。長達17年的研究發現猩猩喜歡喝棕櫚樹分泌的樹液在自然發酵后形成的棕櫚酒，它們用棕櫚樹葉來盛酒喝，并且也會醉酒。此研究報告發表在《皇家學會開放科學》期刊上。以下是 Victoria Gill 的報道。

These chimps show impressive skill. After climbing the trees, they make drinking sponges from crushed leaves, repeatedly dunking them in liquid and sucking out the contents. What is not immediately apparent from this display is that the chimps are drinking wine.

It's palm wine, produced when sugars in the tree sap naturally ferment. In Guinea locals tap the trees to harvest it in plastic containers.

These scientists recorded opportunistic chimpanzees taking their share of the alcoholic spoils. Some of the animals repeatedly drank the equivalent of a bottle of wine and showed visible signs of inebriation, falling asleep soon afterwards.

Earlier this year US researchers discovered that some African apes, including chimps, share the genetic mutation that allows humans to metabolise ethanol. That, and these willingly intoxicated chimps, demonstrates that a taste for drinking alcohol emerged even earlier than we did.