Boozy chimps caught chugging alcohol in the wild

A group of 26 chimps living in the Boussou region of Guinea have been filmed over a 17-year period drinking a type of fermented tree sap called palm wine.

The local villagers in the region regularly tap into the trees and collect its sap, which then ferments into a drink with alcoholic content as high as seven per cent.

The primates however, have been found drinking directly from the tap, fashioning the tree's leaves into a cup-like sponge.

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Reporting their findings in the Royal Society of Open Science, the scientists said the chimps were also found to indulge in "drinking sessions" not unlike those of their human cousins.

"Individuals either co-drank, with drinkers alternating dips of their leaf-sponges into the fermented palm sap, or one individual monopolised the container, whereas others waited their turn."

In scenes sure to alarm those critical of 24-hour drinking rules, some of the party animals were even seen partaking in 7am drinking sessions.

The Guardian notes that the observations are in line with the "drunken monkey hypothesis" of evolution, which states that natural selection favoured primates with a taste for alcohol, because it stimulated the appetite, helped them hunt for fruit and so boosted calorific intake.

"About ten million years ago, our ancestors – and those of apes – gained a genetic mutation that improved 40-fold our ability to break down ethanol. Without it, consuming large amounts would be even more dangerous," says the newspaper.

However, the lead scientist on the study, Dr Kimberley Hockings, told the New York Times that the chimps "may drink the sap more for its nutritional value than its alcohol" and said that there was no evidence to suggest the animals obtain the drink without the help of unwitting humans.