--- ---  # Chimps Also Like to Drink Alcohol and Get Bombed, Researchers Discover by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Jun 10, 2015 11:06 AM UTC  Mother Cuddling Baby Chimp Mother Cuddling Baby ChimpGetty Images by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Jun 10, 2015 11:06 AM UTC A 17-year-long study of chimps by the Royal Society Open Science has recorded chimpanzees from the Republic of Guinea using leaves to drink fermented plant sap, reported the [BBC](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33050939). The chimps made absorbent sponges with chewed leaves and then dipped them into the sap of the raffia palm trees. They often consumed so much ethanol that they showed “visible signs of inebriation.” “Some individuals were estimated to have consumed about 85ml of alcohol,” said the leader of the research team, Dr Kimberley Hockings from Oxford Brookes University and the Centre for Research in Anthropology in Portugal. An amount which equates to a bottle of wine. “\[They\] displayed behavioural signs of inebriation, including falling asleep shortly after drinking.” This is the first time researchers have recorded any wild ape’s voluntary alcohol consumption. Chimps Also Like to Drink Alcohol and Get Bombed, Researchers Discover ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3915655/chimpanzees-drinking-alcohol/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3915655/chimpanzees-drinking-alcohol/"},"headline":"Chimps Also Like to Drink Alcohol and Get Bombed, Researchers Discover","datePublished":"2015-06-10T11:06:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:20:56.549Z","description":"Some chimps drank the equivalent of a bottle of wine in fermented tree sap","url":"https://time.com/3915655/chimpanzees-drinking-alcohol/","keywords":["Newsfeed"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec17ff414d29a734/698853dae53aba5d674de1b6/chimpanzee-drink.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec17ff414d29a734/698853dae53aba5d674de1b6/chimpanzee-drink.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"chimpanzee","caption":"chimpanzee","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3915655/chimpanzees-drinking-alcohol/","name":"Chimps Also Like to Drink Alcohol and Get Bombed, Researchers Discover"}}]}] ```