Think you "know how to drink"? A small mammal from Southeast Asia will make you think again.
By: Maya Givon
Think you "know how to drink"? A small mammal from Southeast Asia will make you think again.
The Pen-Tailed Tree Shrew* (Ptilocercus lowii, Pen-Tailed Tree Shrew) is a small mammal found in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia) - and the only one, as far as is known, that needs alcohol regularly as part of its daily diet.
The wasp feeds on palm flowers, which are home to thriving colonies of yeast bacteria that ferment the nectar of the flowers, turning it into fine alcohol with a concentration of about 4%. The flowers are created throughout the year, and provide a steady supply of palm wine to Hadef, who enjoys it and pollinates the tree in return, while drinking an amount equal to no less than 12 glasses of wine every night...
Similar drinking habits among humans will lead to cumulative damage to the liver, kidneys, heart and even the brain - if they do not first cause acute alcohol poisoning. Whereas the tree hoe seems immune to all of these: he doesn't swing, he doesn't fall from the tree, he doesn't vomit on himself and he doesn't lose in stupid interventions after nights of drinking. In short: despite a very high concentration of alcohol in the blood - chopping wood does not get you drunk!
How is this possible?
This unusual durability has piqued the curiosity of researchers. A team from the University of Bayreuth in Germany estimates that the resistance of the haddaf to the effects of alcohol is the result of a long evolution - an adaptation that lasted over 55 million years, and stems from a different metabolic breakdown capacity than that existing in the human body. It is interesting to note that the woodpecker is genetically very similar to one of the last common ancestors of all great apes. The researchers believe that this genetic closeness is what gives us partial tolerance to alcohol.
The metabolic pathway that allows the woodpecker to break down the alcohol in a way that neutralizes it and prevents its negative effect has not yet been identified, but such a discovery could certainly contribute a lot not only to reducing the negative effects of drugs, but also will certainly change the human entertainment culture...
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If humans succeed in imitating this ability they will lose all interest in alcohol because it will not cause any change in feelings and mood
Very interesting article. It is tempting to speculate that the enzyme Alcohol dehydrogenase, which is responsible for the first and central step in breaking down alcohol (decomposing ethanol into acetaldehyde), has a higher affinity and/or faster catalytic activity for ethanol than humans.