This was first proposed as the so-called “drunken monkey” hypothesis by Robert Dudley, a professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California.
Our attraction to alcohol began millions of years ago, according to Dudley, when our ape and monkey ancestors found out that the scent of alcohol led them to ripe, fermenting, and extremely nutritious fruits. This would give them an evolutionary advantage, as they could eat energizing fruits before other animals can even get to them.the drunken monkey hypothesis may indeed be correct.
The researchers found that the alcohol concentration in the fruits was typically between one and two percent by volume. Then, they collected urine from the monkeys and saw that it contained secondary metabolites of alcohol. This implies that the animals were actually using the alcohol for energy, offering first-of-a-kind evidence that the monkeys actually metabolize the ethanol within it.
Still, what benefits this provides to animals need to be further investigated, as better understanding the roots of our behaviors by looking at our ancestors could help society better understand and deal with