fruit

Scientists have introduced a new term for an ancient behavior that may hold the key to understanding humanity's complex relationship with alcohol. Researchers from Dartmouth and the University of St Andrews have coined "scrumping" to describe African apes' preference for eating fallen, fermented fruit from the forest floor, a behavior that could explain how our ancestors first developed the ability to metabolize alcohol millions of years before humans learned to brew it. The new study, published in the journal BioScience, suggests that this seemingly simple foraging behavior may have been a crucial evolutionary stepping stone that led to the sophisticated alcohol metabolism that allows humans to enjoy everything from wine with dinner to weekend celebrations. It's Monkey Business! Human Desire