Alcohol discrimination and preferences in two species of nectar-feeding primate

What is it about?

Some primates, including humans, have a genetic mutation that dramatically increases the efficiency of alcohol metabolism. This mutation may confer an adaptive advantage to species that consume fermented foods, such as fruits and nectars. To explore whether nectar-feeding primates are attracted to alcohol, we created serial dilutions of ethanol in nectar-simulating solutions and conducted multiple-choice feeding experiments with two species, the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) and slow loris (Nycticebus coucang). We found that both species could discriminate between different concentrations of alcohol; and further, that both species preferred the highest concentrations available to them. This result bolsters the hypothesized importance of fermented foods in human evolution.

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