So, turns out our primate cousins might be bigger party animals than we thought. A recent scientific study has uncovered that chimpanzees are basically consuming the equivalent of a daily happy hour - and they didn’t even need an app to find the best drink specials.

Researchers tracking chimps in Uganda and Ivory Coast discovered these furry friends are accidentally getting a buzz from fermented fruits they munch on daily. We’re talking about 5-10% of their body weight in fruit, which contains around 0.3% ethanol. Translation? These chimps are lowkey tipsy on the regular.

Evolution’s Happy Hour

Scientists are calling this the “drunken monkey hypothesis” - suggesting that our ancient ancestors developed a taste for alcohol through fruit consumption. Aleksey Maro, a UC Berkeley researcher, believes this explains why humans today get such a kick out of alcoholic beverages. It’s basically an evolutionary happy hour that’s been millions of years in the making.

Social Bonding, Chimp Style

Primatologist Catherine Hobaiter suggests these alcohol-infused fruit sessions might actually be a social bonding experience for chimps. Imagine hanging out with your squad, munching on some naturally fermented snacks - sounds like a pretty chill afternoon in the forest.

The research team isn’t stopping here. They’re planning to collect urine samples to further understand how these primates metabolize alcohol. Because nothing says “cutting-edge science” like collecting chimp pee in the middle of a forest, right?

So next time you’re sipping a craft cocktail, remember: you might just be continuing a 30-million-year-old primate tradition. Cheers to that!