Published in BioScience, the study is the first to investigate why humans have such an exceptional capacity to digest alcohol. Researchers analyzed a large observational dataset to measure how often apes engage in scrumping, revealing it to be a widespread practice among African apes, but not orangutans.
"One problem for the researchers was that there was no word to describe 'feeding on fruits gathered from the forest floor.' Nobody wants more jargon, but without a word to talk about something, a behaviour is easily overlooked," said co-author Nathaniel Dominy, Charles Hansen Professor of Anthropology at Dartmouth College.
The team repurposed the English word 'scrumping,' derived from the Middle Low German 'schrimpen'-a term for overripe or fermented fruit-to describe the behavior. They noted its historical presence in gothic art, where primates are often depicted foraging on the ground, suggesting a deep-rooted behavioral tradition.
The study builds on prior evidence that ripe fruits contain low levels of ethanol, and that chimpanzees may engage in social feeding involving such fruits. It now confirms that African apes regularly scrump, whereas orangutans do not-a behavioral divide mirrored in a critical genetic mutation. This mutation allows African apes to process alcohol up to 40 times more efficiently than orangutans and may represent a key link to human alcohol tolerance.
"A fundamental feature of our relationship with alcohol, is our tendency to drink together, whether a pint with friends or a large social feast. The next step is to investigate how shared feeding on fermented fruits might also influence social relationships in other apes," said co-lead author Professor Catherine Hobaiter of the University of St Andrews.
She added, "One upshot is that sharing a cold pint of scrumpy this summer echoes a behaviour our ape ancestors might have already been partaking in 10 million years ago."
Research Report:Fermented Fruits: scrumping, sharing, and the origin of feasting
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