Primates Love Alcohol, Recent Studies Reveal

You really can't blame people who love their evening glass of wine or bottle of beer - it's a primate thing after all.

Lemurs Morticia and Merlin say "aye-aye" to alcohol https://t.co/TwmjxtO11p #WearableTech #IoT pic.twitter.com/G1EUbmZ5uW

— Alexander Sommer (@alexanderwear) July 20, 2016

Scientists recently discovered that the aye-aye and loris species have a strong taste for booze, indicating that these monkey-like creatures are indirect bolsters of the theory for how humans came to love their own stiff drinks.

The aye-ayes, according to USA Today, were particularly happy about alcohol that once they finished their cup, they go around searching for more.

Science Alert said that three animals the researchers experimented on - Morticia and Merlin the aye-aye lemurs, and Dharma the slow loris - were able to discriminate between alcohol of different concentrations, but they liked the strong ones best.

Matthew Carrigan of Santa Fe college in Florida, who was not involved in the research stated that it was somewhat "shocking" that animals prefer drinks with high alcohol levels. He also noted that despite being loaded with valuable calories, it is a challenge to use the said calories from alcoholic drinks without being inebriated - making it a danger for species climbing trees 40 to 50 feet off the ground.

Madagascar Margaritas may be in short supply, but aye-ayes have been found to hunt for nectar, which can ferment into alcohol. In fact, the slow loris are found to be certified drinkers, as they are found sipping alcoholic nectars in their home turf in Southeast Asia.

There could be another explanation for these animals seemingly needing to go to an AA session. Lead Researcher Samuel Gochman told Discovery News that calories are scarce where these animals are from, and alcohol is a rich source for primates with high metabolism. He concluded, "there may be nutritional benefits to consuming moderate amounts of alcohol that outweigh the costs, especially if a species has evolved a digestive system that can break it down hyper-efficiently, as ours does."