Our ape ancestor consumed alcohol 10 million years ago (hic)
2/20/2013Have a hankering for a stiff drink? You are experiencing an ancient impulse, apparently. The common ancestor of chimpanzees, gorillas and humans some 10 million years ago could stomach a drink, according to researchers at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Fla., whose DNA mapping leads them to believe it was one particular primate ancestor who developed the enzymes necessary to metabolize ethanol, the alcohol in our modern day likker. Chemist Steven Benner theorizes it was because this ancestral ape started to eat fruit that was fermenting on the ground. Those damn dirty alcoholic apes. At least we have bottles now. [Source]
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