--- title: Chimps Also Like to Drink Alcohol and Get Bombed, Researchers Discover description: Some chimps drank the equivalent of a bottle of wine in fermented tree sap canonical: https://time.com/3915655/chimpanzees-drinking-alcohol/ author: Tara John article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-10T11:06:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:08:24.932Z article:section: Science og:title: Chimps Also Like to Drink Alcohol and Get Bombed, Researchers Discover og:description: Some chimps drank the equivalent of a bottle of wine in fermented tree sap og:url: https://time.com/3915655/chimpanzees-drinking-alcohol/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec17ff414d29a734/698853dae53aba5d674de1b6/chimpanzee-drink.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: chimpanzee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chimps Also Like to Drink Alcohol and Get Bombed, Researchers Discover twitter:description: Some chimps drank the equivalent of a bottle of wine in fermented tree sap twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec17ff414d29a734/698853dae53aba5d674de1b6/chimpanzee-drink.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Chimps Also Like to Drink Alcohol and Get Bombed, Researchers Discover > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=1b5e8658-3e03-4108-8f6e-efe6f3a8aa6d&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Chimpanzees Like Drinking 'Alcohol,' Too [Watch (HLS stream): Chimpanzees Like Drinking 'Alcohol,' Too](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/w3yBTSax.m3u8) (1:48)  _Published 2015-06-10. A 17-year study found chimpanzees will seek out and drink the alcohol in fermenting tree sap, but they don’t appear to get drunk._ by [Tara John](https://time.com/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Jun 10, 2015 11:06 AM UTC A 17-year study found chimpanzees will seek out and drink the alcohol in fermenting tree sap, but they don’t appear to get drunk. 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. ## Transcript [00:00] Researchers have found some chimpanzees in West [00:02] Africa are habitual drinkers. The 17- year study marks [00:06] the first observations of repeated and habitual alcohol [00:10] consumption by any wild ape. Research Researchers [00:13] observed chimpanzees using wadded up leaves as [00:16] sponges to drink Rafia palm sap, which turns into [00:19] alcohol when it ferments. The sap is about 3 % alcohol [00:23] by volume, roughly equivalent to a light beer. One [00:26] research told the BBC, some individuals were [00:29] estimated to have consumed about 85 millilitres to [00:32] alcohol per visit, or an amount approximately equal to [00:37] a bottle of wine. And while the researchers observed [00:39] altered behavior in some chimpanzees after drinking, [00:42] they say it's not clear if they got drunk in the traditional [00:45] human sense. Importantly, they say there's no concrete [00:48] evidence of this behavior in the wild. Chimps need [00:51] humans to start the process. The researchers wrote, [00:54] raffia palm sap drinking is opportunistic. Relying on a [00:58] person having installed the specialized equipment to [01:00] drain the sap from a mature palm. Still the study [01:03] supports what's known as the drunken monkey [01:05] hypothesis, that some ten million years ago a common [01:08] ancestor to humans and other primates evolved the [01:11] ability to metabolize alcohol more affectively than other [01:14] animals. Not like moose. There's evidence moose in [01:17] Norway might sometimes get drunk after eating piles [01:20] of fermenting fruit, which could explain the shoe [01:22] shopping. Lorikeets are lightweights too. But not [01:26] certain tree shrews. One study found They can drink [01:29] enough to get a human tipsy, but they don't appear to [01:32] feel it. Of course, even primates have their limits. In [01:35] the Caribbean, some vervet monkeys who steal human [01:38] alcohol show the apparent universal signs of [01:40] intoxication. Maybe they should take notes on the [01:43] chimpanzees' moderation. 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