It’s not uncommon to hear stories about drunk animals wreaking havoc on communities while intoxicated. From monkeys and raccoons to opossums and skunks, critters of all types have wound up drunk after breaking into garbage cans and even liquor stores in search of their fix. While these metropolitan incidents tend to dominate the conversation, scientists now have reason to believe that, in the wild, animals getting drunk is actually fairly common practice.
According to a study published on Wednesday in the journal “Trends in Ecology & Evolution,” ethanol (a compound produced from fermenting fruit and grain sugars) is present in almost every existing natural environment, making it likely that most fruit-eating or nectar-drinking animals are regularly consuming alcohol while feeding themselves. The research team — which included academics Anna Bowland, Amanda Melin, David Hosken, Kimberly Hockings, and Matthew Carrigan — also points out that flower and fruit-bearing plants arose over 100 million years ago, so the concept of wild animals eating alcoholic fruit isn’t necessarily a new one.
