In a groundbreaking study that sounds like a plot for a wild nature documentary, scientists have discovered that chimpanzees are essentially consuming the alcohol equivalent of nearly two drinks per day - and they’re doing it completely accidentally.

Researchers from the Ngogo Chimpanzee Project in Uganda and a site in Tai, Ivory Coast, found that chimps consume massive amounts of fruit daily - around 45 kilograms - which naturally contains alcohol. By meticulously collecting and testing fallen fruit samples, scientists discovered ethanol concentrations of about 0.31-0.32 percent.

The most intriguing part? Chimps seem to be unknowingly gravitating towards the fruitiest, most alcohol-laden options. “What we’re realizing is that our relationship with alcohol goes deep back into evolutionary time, probably about 30 million years,” says primatologist Catherine Hobaiter.

This phenomenon ties into what researchers call the “drunken monkey hypothesis” - suggesting that our ancestral exposure to alcohol might explain modern humans’ attraction to boozy beverages. Aleksey Maro, a UC Berkeley graduate student involved in the study, notes that while apes ingest ethanol accidentally, humans deliberately seek it out.

Further research is planned, including collecting chimpanzee urine samples to more precisely track alcohol metabolites. Maro even spent a summer in Ngogo, sleeping in trees and collecting samples - talk about dedication to science.

While this might sound like a quirky scientific discovery, it offers fascinating insights into evolutionary behavior and potentially explains some of humanity’s long-standing relationship with alcohol. Who knew our primate cousins were such accidental party animals?