they had a whiskey drink, they had a cider drink Are these chimps having a fruity booze-up in the wild? New data suggests that the human inclination toward feasting in groups is part of our deep evolutionary history. Jennifer Ouellette – Apr 21, 2025 3:18 pm | 9 The chimp equivalent of bellying up to the bar with friends? Credit: Bowland et al. The chimp equivalent of bellying up to the bar with friends? Credit: Bowland et al. Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Is there anything more human than gathering in groups to share food and partake in a fermented beverage or two (or three, or....)? Researchers have caught wild chimpanzees on camera engaging in what appears to be similar activity: sharing fermented African breadfruit with measurable alcoholic content. According to a new paper published in the journal Current Biology, the observational data is the first evidence of the sharing of alcoholic foods among nonhuman great apes in the wild. The fruit in question is seasonal and comes from Treculia africana trees common across the home environment of the wild chimps in Cantanhez National Park in Guinea-Bissau. Once mature, the fruits drop from the tree to the ground and slowly ripen from a hard, deep green exterior to a yellow, spongier texture. Because the chimps are unhabituated, the authors deployed camera traps at three separate locations to record their feeding and sharing behavior. They recorded 10 instances of selective fruit sharing among 17 chimps, with the animals exhibiting a marked preference for riper fruit. Between April and July 2022, 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). That's comparatively low to alcoholic drinks typically consumed by humans, but then again, fruit accounts for as much as 60 to 80 percent of the chimps' diet, so the amount of ethanol consumed could add up quickly. It's highly unlikely the chimps would get drunk, however. It wouldn't confer any evolutionary advantage, and per the authors, there is evidence in the common ancestor of African apes of a molecular mechanism that increases the ability to metabolize alcohol. The interpretation of the observed behavior remains somewhat speculative. It's unclear, for instance, whether any of the chimps were related to each other; kin-selection effects may be at play. Nor could the authors conclude definitively that the chimps were deliberately consuming ethanol-rich fruits and sharing it with their compatriots. That said, there are well-known benefits to such behavior. “For humans, we know that drinking alcohol leads to a release of dopamine and endorphins, and resulting feelings of happiness and relaxation,” said co-author Anna Bowland of the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall. “We also know that sharing alcohol–including through traditions such as feasting–helps to form and strengthen social bonds. So—now we know that wild chimpanzees are eating and sharing ethanolic fruits–the question is: could they be getting similar benefits?” The authors believe this data suggests that the human inclination toward feasting in groups is part of our deep evolutionary history. "To fully understand this in a social context requires data on the role of alcohol consumption in reinforcing social bonds and building social capital, including the exchange of other goods, between extended kin and non-kin, and the degree to which ethanol ingestion is intentional or not," they concluded. "This necessitates long-term observations of individuals with well-established relationships where changes in feeding and social behavior can be monitored, alongside measurement of ethanol in foods." Current Biology, 2025. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.02.067 (About DOIs). Jennifer Ouellette Senior Writer Jennifer Ouellette Senior Writer Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 9 Comments