Hungry bats are more likely to become drunkards

Written by Thomas Hesselberg

Thursday, 22 May 2008

Hungry fruit bats are ready to face the costs of intoxication to obtain food. Photo from Wikipedia Common.

A new study shows that hungry fruit bats eat fruits with a high alcohol content.

Ethanol, the chemical name for drinking alcohol, does not only affect humans but also many other animals. However, unlike humans, animals in general try to avoid alcohol intoxication. This is though not always as easy as one would think. Micro-organisms such as yeast utilize the sugars in fruits as energy and generate waste compounds such as alcohol in the process. As fruits ripen their ethanol content increases. Whereas alcohol in high doses have severe effect on behaviour and motor coordination, alcohol in small doses actually are beneficial as they provide the animal with a source of nutrition. Israeli scientists from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have in a new study examined the Egyptian fruit bats willingness to ingest ethanol rich fruit, when they are hungry and when they are well-fed.

The researchers kept bats in an outdoor flight cage and fed them a solution of nutrients and sugars in which ethanol concentrations ranged from 0% to 2%. The experiments were conducted on bats that had been given plenty of food before the experiments and bats that had had only restricted access to food.

The study demonstrated that whereas well-fed bats stayed clear of the ethanol-rich food, hungry bats accepted ethanol-rich food as readily as normal food. In conclusion, hungry bats were ready to face the costs of intoxication in order to get food, whereas well-fed bats were not willing to face the risks.

The researchers speculate that alcoholism in humans could stem from the taste for ripe food in our hungry ancestors.

Source
Sanchez, F., Korine, C., Kotler, B. P. and Pinshew, B. (2008). Ethanol concentration in food and body condition affect foraging behavior in Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus). Naturwissenschaften 95: 561-567.

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