Many people like to get together from time to time for an adult beverage or two. (Or… many.)
There’s new research that finds we’re not the only ones: chimpanzees apparently also gather to imbibe and share alcohol.
A team from the University of Exeter studied a community of chimps that live at a national park in the country of Guinea-Bissau, in west Africa.
One of their main food sources comes from African breadfruit trees – they can eat the fruit just as fruit, but if the fruit just sits out for a while, it will naturally start to ferment, and will start to fill up with ethanol.
The researchers took video of the chimps as they went about doing chimp things, and on those videos it looked as if the chimps went out of their way to choose the fermented fruit, the ones with more alcohol in them, over the fresh fruit.
The videos also spotted the chimpanzees getting together near these breadfruit trees and sharing the fermented fruits with each other, sort of like someone buying a round of beers for their mates at a pub.
In several cases, there was enough fruit around that the chimps could have each chosen and eaten their own, but instead they shared.
The research team doesn’t know exactly why the chimps are doing any of this, of course, but since chimps are similar in many ways to humans, it very well could be that this is as much about community and socializing as it is about the fermented food.
Chimps seem to like these boozy breadfruits more when they’re in a group, though like many humans, they may not like it when the bartender signals that you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay under the breadfruit tree.
Trading cards have been a hit in many places for generations.
There’s a new trading card in Japan that’s sort of ABOUT generations.
They’re called Ossan cards, and instead of featuring Pokemon or magical creatures or athletes, these have middle aged guys doing their everyday jobs and hobbies.
But each of them still gets a power level!
New Study Suggests Chimpanzees May Enjoy “Social Drinking” Just Like Humans (My Modern Met)
Middle-aged men are the new Pokémon and we’re here for it (Collector Club)
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