TY - JOUR
T1 - Tools to tipple
T2 - Ethanol ingestion by wild chimpanzees using leaf-sponges
AU - Hockings, Kimberley J.
AU - Bryson-Morrison, Nicola
AU - Carvalho, Susana
AU - Fujisawa, Michiko
AU - Humle, Tatyana
AU - McGrew, William C.
AU - Nakamura, Miho
AU - Ohashi, Gaku
AU - Yamanashi, Yumi
AU - Yamakoshi, Gen
AU - Matsuzawa, Tetsuro
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
©2015 The Authors.
Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/6/1
Y1 - 2015/6/1
N2 - African apes and humans share a genetic mutation that enables them to effectively metabolize ethanol. However, voluntary ethanol consumption in this evolutionary radiation is documented only inmodern humans.Here, we report evidence of the long-term and recurrent ingestion of ethanol from the raffia palm (Raphia hookeri, Arecaceae) by wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) at Bossou in Guinea, West Africa, from 1995 to 2012. Chimpanzees at Bossou ingest this alcoholic beverage, often in large quantities, despite an average presence of ethanol of 3.1% alcohol by volume (ABV) and up to 6.9% ABV. Local people tap raffia palms and the sap collects inplastic containers, and chimpanzees use elementary technology—a leafy tool—to obtain this fermenting sap. These data show that ethanol does not act as a deterrent to feeding in this community of wild apes, supporting the idea that the last common ancestor of living African apes and modern humans was not averse to ingesting foods containing ethanol.
AB - African apes and humans share a genetic mutation that enables them to effectively metabolize ethanol. However, voluntary ethanol consumption in this evolutionary radiation is documented only inmodern humans.Here, we report evidence of the long-term and recurrent ingestion of ethanol from the raffia palm (Raphia hookeri, Arecaceae) by wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) at Bossou in Guinea, West Africa, from 1995 to 2012. Chimpanzees at Bossou ingest this alcoholic beverage, often in large quantities, despite an average presence of ethanol of 3.1% alcohol by volume (ABV) and up to 6.9% ABV. Local people tap raffia palms and the sap collects inplastic containers, and chimpanzees use elementary technology—a leafy tool—to obtain this fermenting sap. These data show that ethanol does not act as a deterrent to feeding in this community of wild apes, supporting the idea that the last common ancestor of living African apes and modern humans was not averse to ingesting foods containing ethanol.
KW - Elementary tool-use
KW - Ethanol ingestion
KW - Great apes
KW - Raffia palm
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84958087926&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1098/rsos.150150
DO - 10.1098/rsos.150150
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84958087926
SN - 2054-5703
VL - 2
JO - Royal Society Open Science
JF - Royal Society Open Science
IS - 6
M1 - 150150
ER -