November 03, 2005

Drunk Monkey Anyone know if there is even the slightest bit of truth behind this?
posted by lannanh 19 years ago
  • One vote it's bullshit right here.
  • Another vote for bullshit. Still, there are a few drunken monkeys out there: Drunken Monkey, Drunken Monkey, and, just for fun, a drunken bear.
  • Actually, might be closer to the truth than previous imagined: real drunken monkeys.
  • Ish not bullshit, ish th' true. Monkeys have been known to purposely eat fermented fruit, and while I'm impressed that they've figured out how to make pruno, I'm not shurprished in th' leasht...
  • I knew I shouldna shtopped fer that banana daquiri... shomeboddy hold my tail, I'm gonna puke...
  • No, it's a joke.
  • Who let Sir Sean in?
  • Well, *I'm* a drunken monkey right now, but I don't think that my experience is generalizable to every monkey ever. (Just those that had a bad day and needed to go out with friends!)
  • Well, let's just put it this way: If it was a groundbreaking anthropological discovery for non-human tool use when Jane Goodall saw chimpanzees termite-fishing or ant-fishing using sticks, I think discovering ape use of holes as proto-cultural stills in 1779 would be a little far-fetched. Especially considering the dating: Goodall started her research in 1960. From sfred's/layne, lady layne's post: "We want to stress from the outset that the drunken monkey hypothesis is just that--a hypothesis. It remains far from proven, and there are experts who disagree with our assumptions. But we think the hypothesis has great potential for explaining humanity's deep and conflicting relations with alcohol." "...ripe hanging fruit is about 0.6 percent ethanol by weight; overripe fruit, often fallen to the ground, can have an ethanol content of more than 4 percent. The howler monkey that Stephens observed on Barro Colorado Island was feasting on fruit near its peak ripeness--when its ethanol content is about 1 percent." Apes spend about 60% (on average) of their activity cycle eating. If they are eating a lot of over-ripe fruit from the ground, they can get drunk. The drunken monkey hypothesis wonders if primates have an acute sense of smell for ethanol in the way that it would be selectively advantageous for a species to get the fruit first, and probably in most cases, before it hit the ground. This relies on the theory of evolution as well, so FSM. Note, as well, that the drunken monkey hypothesis has nothing to do with brewing nor crowds of drunken monkeys cavorting on a beach a la Ft. Lauderdale. However, the differences in proto-culture are pretty substantial within species. For example, during grooming rituals male chimps of certain locales will hold a hanging branch with one hand, while in other areas they clasp hands with each other while grooming. Because of these differences it is possible that there could be a locale where ape communities valued boozy ground fruit, but it's unlikely. Considering it's an important source of fuel and the amount of competition in primate environments fruit seems much more valuable to harvest early, on the tree. More importantly: why, for the love of pete(best), are you asking if something from MDMO might be slightly true? That's like looking for references in the Weekly World News or the Onion.
  • I'm not taking those simians seriously until they learn to make absinthe.
  • I'm not taking those simians seriously until they learn to make absinthe. Then you can take them with a spoonful of sugar. It, uh, helps the simian go down. I think this belongs in the monkey whore thread, too.
  • I can't believe there's NOT a SINGLE tagline in this post so far. It should be fertile ground. Get with it, people!!
  • Monkeyfilter: Never drink alone again!
  • All sorts of neat stuff on this site.
  • Steampunk Monkey Nation--Mental mastery over the physical world
  • Who among us hadn't partied partly nude with monkeys? Oh, wait. I might have said too much.
  • We're ALL monkeys after all.
  • Who among us hadn't partied partly nude with monkeys? ...in the Sea of Galilee?