OUR distant cousins鈥� taste for alcohol may help us understand the origins of our own love for it.
Frank Wiens of the University of Bayreuth, Germany, observed tree shrews 鈥� which are related to ancestral primates 鈥� regularly sipping nectar from bertram palm flower clusters, as an essential part of their diet.
Sugars in the nectar ferment in the warm, moist environment of the clusters, native to south-east Asia, producing alcohol concentrations of up to 3.8 per cent, similar to beer. The mean alcohol content is around 0.6 per cent 鈥� still enough to stimulate the shrews鈥� alcohol receptors (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in press).
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If the shrews had a human-like metabolism, at this rate, they would be intoxicated for about a third of their lifetime. Fortunately, shrews rid their bodies of alcohol much faster than humans, dumping a breakdown product of alcohol into their hair.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a beautiful example of the natural biology of alcohol consumption, which people have totally neglected in alcohol research,鈥� says Robert Dudley of the University of California at Berkeley. He says further studies could cast light on why people are so fond of alcohol, and possible ways to reduce its impact.
Drugs and Alcohol 鈥� Learn more in our comprehensive special report.
