Wild chimps eating fermenting fruit get a surprising slug of alcohol

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Ripe fruit is an integral part of the diet of wild chimpanzees, as they routinely eat an amount equaling about 10% of their body weight daily. And because this fruit often is undergoing natural fermentation, they are ingesting a surprising quantity of alcohol – the equivalent, according to scientists, of a person drinking two cocktails per day.

Researchers studied chimpanzees at two sites – one in Uganda in East Africa and another in Ivory Coast in West Africa – and measured the alcohol content of the fermented ripe fruits they consume regularly. The scientists then calculated that the chimps, based on their usual food intake, may ingest every day 14 grams of ethanol, the principal type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages.

So the obvious question