Posted on 04/17/2014 12:05:01 PM PDT by BuckeyeTexan
As the child of an alcoholic father, Robert Dudley long wondered what caused the destructive allure of alcohol. Then while working in the Panamanian forest as a biologist, Dudley saw monkeys eating ripe fruit, which likely contained small amounts of the stuff, and an answer occurred to him: Maybe alcoholism is an evolutionary hangover.
Had fruit-eating animals, including human ancestors, gained an evolutionary advantage by learning to associate the smell and taste of alcohol with ripe fruit? Dudley wondered. He named this concept the drunken monkey hypothesis. "I thought it was too simple an idea not to have been thought of previously," he told Live Science. But he found no record of it.
Now, about 15 years after conceiving the idea, Dudley, who studies the physiology and biomechanics of flight at the University of California, Berkeley, has published a book, "The Drunken Monkey: Why We Drink and Abuse Alcohol" (University of California Press, 2014) that delves into the evolution of humans' and other animals' attraction to fruit, and as a result, alcohol.
Introducing the drunken monkey
The concept goes like this: Microscopic fungi, called yeast, turn the naturally occurring sugar in fruit into a chemical known as ethanol, which most people know better as alcohol. Fruit-eating animals — everything from primates and other mammals to insects and reptiles —began to use the scent of ethanol as a cue to find ripe fruit. Ethanol offers other benefits as well: it helps preserve the fruit from bacterial spoilage and stimulates the appetite of whatever consumes it (think of an aperitif).
Scientists know little about the natural occurrence of ethanol and its role in diet for many species, Dudley writes.
"It's not just Napa vineyards and drunks on the street. There is actually a much broader natural background
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
“Two Melons?”
;->
I see drunken jay and other birds on my pyracantha bushes every fall when the berries begin rotting on the bush. It’s a funny sight but raises the ever so serious question, “Are birds natural born alcoholics?”
Drunken Monkey Demonstration (Hsiao Hou)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L13JhkI1_vY
That’s always a wild time of year
They used to fly in to our windows on drunk on the pyrocanthas berries.
Studies have shown that wild animals will intoxicate themselves.
It seems just for the enjoyment of it.
It is hard to know what reproductive advantage is conferred by getting drunk on pyracantha berries.
Of course its evolutionary, when I am drinking I become much more attractive
*******************************************************************
I no longer drink at all but, when I did, potential “mates” became more and more attractive the more I drank.
“I no longer drink at all but, when I did, potential “mates” became more and more attractive the more I drank.”
I often wonder how much more attractive the average human would be today if alcohol had not allowed the spread of the ugly gene. Though it is possible the whole human race would have died out eons ago due to a shortage of hot chicks
Speaking of evolution....
http://www.darksky.org/education/312
Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that is released in darkness and inhibited by light. It serves many functions in the
human body, primarily regulating the daily cycles of our systemic activities. Reduction or elimination of light at night can help maintain a robust melatonin release. While any kind of light can interfere with melatonin production, the short wavelength, blue portion of the spectrum is the most potent for melatonin suppression in humans. This type of light (often found in electronic devices) should be avoided during the night.
They do seem to enjoy it however. :-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.