Ape-rol spritz: wild chimps guzzle 'half a pint per day' through fruit

Someone have a word with the chimps? Observations of the apes in the wild show them imbibing the alcoholic equivalent of half a pint of beer a day through the vast amount of fermented fruit in their diet.

- Ian Sample Science editor

Researchers arrived at the first estimates of wild chimp daily alcohol intake after measuring ethanol levels in fallen fruit that the apes gather from the forest floor in Kibale national park in Uganda and in Taï national park in Ivory Coast.

While individual fruits contained less than 0.5% alcohol, the apes' daily intake swelled as they devoured the ripe fruit pulp. They were particularly fond of figs which had some of the highest levels of alcohol recorded.