These apes innocently get drunk on fruit

Los Angeles - Apes regularly get drunk, scientists have found out.

Researchers were shocked to spot wild chimps getting tipsy during a study carried out in Bossou in the west African country of Guinea and quickly realised they were drinking a tipple that is also enjoyed by local villagers.

Behavioural ecologist at Oxford Brookes University in England, Kimberley Hockings, said: "To harvest the palm wine, chimpanzees at Bossou use a leafy tool as a spongy drinking vessel."

The sap averaged approximately 3.1 to 6.9 percent alcohol.

Humans and apes share a genetic mutation that emerged about 10 million years ago that helps them break down alcohol and could have helped them eat overripe and fermenting fruit.

Watch what happens when animals eat too many ripe marula fruits...