Why Do Animals Drink Alcohol?

Why Do Animals Drink Alcohol?

Why Do Animals Drink Alcohol?
Much is unknown about how often, and why, wild animals consume alcohol.
Key points
Ethanol, a form of alcohol, naturally occurs in nearly every ecosystem when plant matter ferments.
Ethanol is likely a common component of the diets of fruit- and nectar-eating animals in the wild.
Animals may ingest ethanol accidentally or target it for nutritional, medicinal, and cognitive benefits.
Anecdotes from around the world describe wild animals — everything from wasps to songbirds to baboons — acting drunk after feeding on fermented fruits. However these incidents are assumed to be rare and accidental, and the scientific literature largely treats alcohol consumption as a uniquely human behavior.
dence that fruit- and nectar-eating animals likely consume ethanol (or ethyl alcohol) regularly.

Ethanol is naturally present in nearly every ecosystem. It is made when yeast ferments the sugars in fruits, grains, saps, and nectars.
“Since ethanol is more widespread than was previously thought, most animals that eat sugary fruits are probably ingesting it in some
paper’s authors. “So far, it just hasn’t been studied as much in natural contexts.”