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| Let's get fruit, Jane. - Without Tarzan? |
SUMMARY: The use of fermented foods and drinks by humans is so widespread as to be considered ubiquitous, with their use largely linked to dietary benefits and social bonding [123].
The discovery of a molecular adaptation in an alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme that greatly increased ethanol metabolism in the common ancestor of African apes suggests that the incorporation of fermented fruit in the human diet [such as kombucha and fermented relishes and foods] has ancient origins [4].
However, little is known about the inclusion of ethanolic foods in the diet of nonhuman great apes. Here [at Science Direct], we document for the first time the repeated ingestion and sharing of naturally fermented African breadfruit (Treculia africana) with confirmed ethanol (alcohol), by wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) [humans' last common ancestor] in Cantanhez [Forests] National Park, [Southern] Guinea-Bissau.
Widespread plant food sharing in great apes and the recent confirmation of ethanol presence in diverse fruit species [5] suggest the sharing, and dietary incorporation, of ethanol-containing foods is extensive and may have played a long-standing role in hominoid societies.
- Current Biology, Wild chimpanzees share fermented fruits (ScienceDirect), April 21, 2025; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
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