Even though I have retired from teaching, I still feel the need, once in a while, to impart important knowledge to the masses. And so;In the rain forests of Malaysia, lives the tiny pentail tree shrew. As far as we know, these shrews are the only mammals, other than humans, that drink beer as a normal part of their existence. The beer comes from the flowers of the bertam palm, that have been invaded by a mysterious kind of yeast, that turns their nectar into alcohol. The highest alcohol levels measured have been about 3.8 %.
These little shrews have never been studied in captivity, but scientists believe that they must have the ability to metabolize the alcohol very quickly, because they never appear drunk. Being drunk would be a threat to their survival, and they seem to be thriving.
So if you run into one of these little fellows in a bar some night, share a small portion of suds with him and I'm sure he'll have some jungle stories to tell you.
3 comments:
Where does he come up with these amazing facts!?!?!
That is really interesting though...nature is cool.
Kris
I don't know if they can metabolize their alcohol *that* well, that shrew in the picture looks pretty drunk. At least that's what I would imagine I would look like if was drunk and climbed a tree.
And just for the record, I don't think that shrew looks even remotely like Mark.
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