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Animals getting wasted
- Thread starter EverGreenman
- Start date
I love it.
I believe it too. I have to put my primary bucket on the counter otherwise the dogs are all over it, trying to lick the airlock or whatever erupts out. Once the fermentation has calmed down, they have not interest in it. But that first week the dogs live in my kitchen. Does anyone else have that issue?
I believe it too. I have to put my primary bucket on the counter otherwise the dogs are all over it, trying to lick the airlock or whatever erupts out. Once the fermentation has calmed down, they have not interest in it. But that first week the dogs live in my kitchen. Does anyone else have that issue?
Yeah there are reports of Moose, deer and birds getting drunk off of fermenting fruit every fall. Happens often enough you might think that they might be attracted to the after affects...
Drunk elephants are apparently not so cute. I've even heard reports of elephants that become alcoholics and will rampage through a village looking for booze. 
Yes that may be why the British in the colonies became really good at elephant hunting - they weren't going to allow any wild pachyderms to come in and take their Gin and Tonic. ;D
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I've seen this before and it's great! Also read about rabbits seeking out hallucinogenic mushrooms...explains a lot.
Yeah, that is good for people to know about. Puts things in perspective a little...
I have read about many cases of animals intentionally and systematically seeking out altered states of consciousness.
Some argue that it is some kind of of natural tendency in most animals.
Some argue that the attraction to alcohol is just a behavior that evolved as a good way to find foods high in calories. Alcohol smell usually indicates foods with high sugar content.
Does that make sense? I'm not remembering with confidence the biochemistry....but the calories are still there after the yeasties digest most of the sugars right? ETOH has calories right...?
Correct me if I'm wrong
I have read about many cases of animals intentionally and systematically seeking out altered states of consciousness.
Some argue that it is some kind of of natural tendency in most animals.
Some argue that the attraction to alcohol is just a behavior that evolved as a good way to find foods high in calories. Alcohol smell usually indicates foods with high sugar content.
Does that make sense? I'm not remembering with confidence the biochemistry....but the calories are still there after the yeasties digest most of the sugars right? ETOH has calories right...?
Correct me if I'm wrong
While the presence of EtOH may be an indicator of the ripeness of fruit (high sugar content), the final metabolites of EtOH itself are fats, water and CO2. (The toxic intermediate metabolites of EtOH contribute to hangover.) So EtOH has caloric significance, however it is not a direct energy contributing molecule.
I still think animals essentially like the effects produced by alcohol.
I still think animals essentially like the effects produced by alcohol.
Alcohol has calories, but I'm not sure that it would really be considered "food". For the most part it is processed like a toxin (which of course it is). But most alcoholic beverages, and certainly the "primitive" ones, contain a lot more than just alcohol. In fact, you can significantly increase the protein content of grains by fermenting them into beer...as long as you drink the yeast too. Early humans probably did; now we don't unless it's a hefe beer. So it is certainly possible that we come by our alcohol preference naturally, if the folks who drank sludgy yeast-grain glop were healthier due to the higher protein diet. Maybe...
EtOH in small doses is also like a medicine or tonic. It can lower blood pressure and treat anxiety in moderation.
I believe the story goes something like this: rain diluted some honey, wild yeast fermented the honey, primitive man drank the fermented honey and felt less unhappy.
There were also some hypotheses about primitive man being able to tolerate the stresses of hunting better during the ice age when he was a bit toasty, though I don't know how legit that concept is.
I believe the story goes something like this: rain diluted some honey, wild yeast fermented the honey, primitive man drank the fermented honey and felt less unhappy.
There were also some hypotheses about primitive man being able to tolerate the stresses of hunting better during the ice age when he was a bit toasty, though I don't know how legit that concept is.
Ahh, yes. The perennially retold and perhaps apocryphal tale of dilute honey in the wild magically becoming transformed into l'eau de vie.
Maybe.
Equally likely (with a lack of evidence to the contrary), is that early humans discovered that sweetened gruel tasted better than plain boiled-grain porridge. So they carried cooked, honeyed concoctions contained in various vessels on their travels - and of course eventually some fermented.
The real story, alas, is truly lost to history....
The only thing I know for sure is that modern man also tolerates any "ice age" exposure better after a tipple or two. ;D
Maybe.
Equally likely (with a lack of evidence to the contrary), is that early humans discovered that sweetened gruel tasted better than plain boiled-grain porridge. So they carried cooked, honeyed concoctions contained in various vessels on their travels - and of course eventually some fermented.
The real story, alas, is truly lost to history....
The only thing I know for sure is that modern man also tolerates any "ice age" exposure better after a tipple or two. ;D
True dat! I remember reading it takes 6 to 8 fermented berries to tank a bear.
Yes, an honest to goodness BEAR. Six to eight berries.
Because they haven't evolved the ability to process EtOH in large quantities like we have.
Oh, right. So the alcohol is not the main calorie source. Those fermented fruits are probably still packed with all kinds of sugars and unfermentables. Plus the nutritious yeasties.
Now I'm starting to feel bad for all the bears in zoos that will never know the pleasure of fermented fruit due to the tyrannical zookeepers!
If you've ever been in the student section at a Cal home football game you'd know how true that is.
