The media office of the University of California, Berkeley, noted that scientists consider ethyl alcohol to be a part of the natural diet of these primates. Researcher Alexei Maro stated: “Close observation showed that both male and female chimpanzees, in all the groups we studied, consumed an average of about 14 grams of ethanol daily, which is equivalent to one serving of alcohol in the United States. Given the difference in body weight between humans and apes, this equates to drinking two servings of alcohol.” It is noted that anthropologists, biologists, and historians are trying to understand why humans and their direct ancestors can tolerate large amounts of ethyl alcohol and have a desire to consume it, despite it being toxic to most other primates, according to the website ” “. Anthropologists from the United States, Côte d’Ivoire, and France have found evidence supporting this theory while observing several groups of chimpanzees living in Kibale National Park in Uganda and Taï National Park in Côte d’Ivoire. Researchers tracked the types of fruit consumed by the chimpanzees, collected samples, and measured the ethanol level in them. Measurements translated to 21 types of fruit consumed by chimpanzees in both West and East Africa containing an average of about 0.26% alcohol. Each chimpanzee consumes about 4.5 kilograms of this fruit daily, absorbing approximately 14 grams of ethyl alcohol. Maro adds: “Chimpanzees consume almost the same amount of alcohol as humans do daily if they rely on constantly fermented foods. This supports the hypothesis linking the human craving for alcohol to these nutritional and metabolic traits shared with our common ancestors with chimpanzees.”
