South African elephants eating marula fruits. © nytimes
Elephants living on the savannah of South Africa may be the happiest elephants in the world because a tree called marula abounds there. The tree is tall, with lush branches and leaves, and the fruit is rich in sugar. When ripe and dropped to the ground, it will ferment into alcohol, which makes the drunken South African elephants fascinated.
Because of this, the marula fruit is also called the elephant fruit, and the wine made by humans using this fruit is also called elephant wine . It is said that an elephant that eats (drinks) too much under a tree will stagger around the big tree. It has an air of "getting drunk when it comes to wine, you know who I am". If there are not enough fruits on the ground, they will hit the tree with their huge bodies in order to drop more.
Alcohol and the emergence of drinkers are actually far earlier than the birth of human beings. Single-celled prokaryotes more than 4 billion years ago roamed in the ancient ocean, gathering and scattering, eating and metabolizing-the metabolites were in the There is carbon dioxide with ethanol - in short, expelling sparkling wine.
is said to be a drunken elephant scene. © hurriyet
Alcohol is a native product of nature. It seems that it is not unusual for elephants to take the initiative to replenish alcohol. And I’m afraid it won’t surprise you that monkeys who are also primates love to drink.
St. Kitts in the Caribbean (Saint Kitts) is a well-known tourist destination. The island is rich in sugar cane, but there were no long-tailed monkeys . More than 300 years ago, the suffering West African slaves were pulled to the island. They worked in the winery on the island, and the long-tailed monkeys that had been living in Africa were also brought to the island.
The smart monkeys soon discovered that the sugar cane on the island was a constant source of happiness. Once the sugar cane was ripe or burnt, they would pounce on it to obtain the fermented alcohol. To this day, they have long been accustomed to stealing wine from tourists' cocktail glasses , and they continue to drink again and again despite repeated admonitions.
Watching monkeys drink has almost become a signature spectacle on the island - as long as they drink from someone else's glass.
In view of this habit, local people will put rum and molasses in coconut shells as bait, and wait for the monkeys to get drunk and then easily capture them. The same method of catching monkeys is also recorded in the book "National History Supplement" written by Li Zhao in the Tang Dynasty. Human compatriots in Southeast Asia and Africa also have similar skills. The methods are similar, but the place and the wine are different.
Record of long-tailed monkeys stealing wine and drinking in St. Kitts Island. © alshar
In contrast, the monkeys in Hainan appear to have a lot of backbone. Although they also like to drink, they do not steal or rob, and they produce and sell their own products. Li Tiaoyuan, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, once recorded: " There are many apes in Qiongzhou ... After tasting the ape wine deep in the rocks, the ape wine is made of rice and flowers. One hundred and six rolls contains about five or six liters. , the spiciest, but extremely rare.”
Similar things have been discovered in Huangshan, Guangxi and other places. Smart monkeys will hide endless fruits and flowers in the cracks of stones, and over time they will ferment into natural fruit wine. Precipitate. " Monkey Wine " is so rich and fragrant that the hero Linghu Chong is willing to use some clever tricks to cheat. However, it is not known whether the monkeys deliberately brewed wine for the sake of drinking, so the "self-produced and self-sold" mentioned in the previous article may not be accurate.
Of course, it is not impossible.
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There are other animals that also drink. This saying of "raising a toast together across the world" is really fascinating.
But unlike most other animals, humans have a distinct social nature and rely on connections with each other to maintain group stability. Our ancestors hunted together, lived in groups, reproduced, and shared living supplies. This gives more emotional color to human drinking behavior. What can be more true than sharing a bottle of wine?
.4 million years ago, when our ancestors learned to control the power of fire, they could leave a lot of foraging and other necessary economic activities to the day, because night is more suitable for sitting around the campfire and chatting. At this time, you might as well have some fermentation fruits, and then...
© descopera
Compared with other animals, humans are born and good at drinking, and their drinking capacity is almost the same as that of all mammals - but it is best not to drink with Malaysian 's Pen-tailed Tree Shrew , otherwise it would be using your interests to challenge other people's careers. These guys survive by consuming fermented palm nectar (the highest alcohol concentration can reach 3.8%), drinking thousands of cups a day without changing their facial expressions.
The reason why pen-tailed tree shrews drink so well is due to millions of years of natural selection. The same goes for humans. Ten million years ago, when our ancestors came down from the trees, something unexpected happened quietly.
Scientists are not sure why our ancestors came down from the trees, but one guess is to eat rotten fruits that fell to the ground. Ripe fruits will emit an attractive aroma, suggesting more sugar and alcohol. ——Alcohol concentration up to 8%.
These alcohols have significant positive significance, because their smell can spread far away, allowing the primate ancestors to find food smoothly. The so-called "the aroma of wine is not afraid of the depth of the alley." This is the "drunken monkey hypothesis" proposed by biologist Robert Dudley.
© pressone
In addition, alcohol also derives a magical "appetizer effect", that is, the smell of alcohol makes us want to eat more. Why do you always have the habit of ordering snacks to go with the wine when you drink, or why do you always want to have a skewer after drinking? This is not unreasonable. Alcohol stimulates the agouti-related peptide neuron (Agrp, although I have no idea what that is) in the hypothalamus of the brain, keeping you hungry.
The aperitif effect also has profound evolutionary significance - Alcohol allowed our drunken primate ancestors to absorb more energy, and it was a wise choice to eat full before going back to sleep in the trees. 's next meal may be from the mouth of the saber-toothed tiger .
The beauty of the Drunken Monkey Hypothesis is: It tells us that the reason why humans love drinking is because this is set by the evolutionary process, and the beauty brought by wine is the reward for the calories we consume. We share alcohol with others because a person who drinks too much is vulnerable to predators, but a group of people is safer.
The habit of living in groups makes us drink, and drinking together makes us inseparable.
But the Drunken Monkey Hypothesis only explains why humans love to drink, but it does not explain why we are so good at drinking. If our bodies have not evolved a corresponding alcohol processing mechanism, drinking more will only be a waste.
This brings us to the fourth group of alcohol dehydrogenase ADH4 in the genome (again, I don’t know what this is) . Ten million years ago, this gene fragment mutated in our ancestors. directly increased the alcohol metabolism rate by nearly 40 times . This allowed them to successfully digest the alcohol in rotten fruits. In other apes, When humans are too drunk to wake up, they continue to forage for food, or go up trees to rest peacefully.
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(the existence of wine) proves that God loves the world and likes to see us happy.
——Benjamin Franklin
It is difficult to say whether modern people are good at drinking after such a long period of evolution.However, primitive people could not understand why rotten fruit made them feel good. Modern people have made great progress in this regard.
The molecular formula of alcohol is very simple (as shown below) - but this simple molecule has extremely complex effects on those who ingest it. After spending an entire afternoon reading about the neurobiology of alcohol and learning about the 50 or so neural mechanisms it triggers, I felt an urgent need to have a drink first.
© wiki
We drink because we are stressed and anxious. This is because alcohol can stimulate our brains to produce more gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) , a common neurodepressant in the brain. Its effect is similar to the sedative drugs prescribed by doctors, making people relax. If you stumble over your words or walk unsteadily after drinking, it's because you have too much on your mind.
On the contrary, the level of glutamate (Glutamate) in the brain will decrease with alcohol intake. This is a neurostimulant that helps you stay rational. The candor and confession after drinking is Because alcohol reduces the level of glutamate in the brain , but it also releases the little devil in you and makes it more difficult to control yourself (but please don’t blame alcohol for drunken behavior, to use a recent saying, no see Which subordinate drank too much and beat up his boss) - and rationality based on etiquette, logic, and norms can only sit back and watch. This is also a scientific explanation for "telling the truth while drunk".
When ancient Persians faced major choices, they needed to make serious discussions and decisions twice: once when they were sober, and once when they drank too much - the former was the result of rational thinking, and the latter turned to what alcohol indicated. Frankness and the most essential needs. When the conclusions of the two decisions are the same, action can be taken.
We also drink for pleasure. This is because alcohol causes the brain to release more dopamine and enkephalin. There is no need to elaborate on the reputation of the former, while the latter can make people feel happy, which is true. "source of happiness".
However, don’t be greedy. They are all adults.
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We cannot allow our spirits to succumb to sorrow... The best resistance is to make a lot of wine and drink it.
- Ancient Greek poet Alcaeus
But I have to admit that sometimes it is not that I want to drink too much, but that I have to drink just to survive. I’m not talking about the helplessness at the workplace drinking table, but the last resort of medieval British people. If they don’t drink, they will really die.
Medieval English people drank a lot, even women and children who had not been allowed to drink for a long time in the history of civilization. It's not that the British like to drink it very much, it's mainly that the water back then was pretty bad.
Drunk monks in a medieval monastery brewery, painted by Joseph Haier in 1873. © wiki
If the medieval English wanted a continuous supply of edible fresh water, they either had well-functioning wells or aqueducts, but these required an effective social division of labor, a responsible government structure, and other things that were lacking in the Middle Ages. thing. If the people didn't drink, they would have to drink turbid stream water full of bugs, leeches and rotten leaves.
Therefore, a British monastery abbot Alfric ( Ælfric) formulated regulations like this: If there is ale (actually ale ) drink ale, if not, drink water.
Drink for health, raise a glass for survival.As a substitute for drinking water, wine has maintained human survival and saved many people. This is not a joke, but a real history - the ancient Egyptians had similar experiences in this regard.
The story goes like this. It is said that a long time ago, the highest god of ancient Egypt, the sun god "Rah", was furious because of the disrespect of humans, and sent the goddess Hathor with a lion head to kill all humans. Wails filled the fields, and rivers of blood flowed. After
's anger subsided, he decided to let humans go. But at this time, Hathor was already killing people madly. No matter whether you were Doremi or La, no one could tell you how to kill, and he continued to kill in the world.
Lafang felt that the situation was out of control, so he quickly brewed 7,000 barrels of beer, dyed it red and spread it to the world. Hathor thought it was human blood, so he drank it until he fell asleep. Then he stopped killing, and humans survived. Therefore, in ancient Egyptian mythology, it was alcohol that saved mankind.
To commemorate the life-saving benefits of alcohol, the ancient Egyptians held a drunken festival every year, where they caroused while hoping to communicate with the gods. As the American philosopher William James (William James) wrote when analyzing the mystery of religion: " Drunkness is part of the deeper mystery and tragedy of life... Drunk consciousness is a mysterious consciousness. A small part of it, and our feelings about drunkenness also find their place in a larger overall feeling about mystery. ”
In ancient Egypt, it was strange not to drink. This means you have rejected God.
In ancient Egypt, it was polite to drink until you vomited. They would even add emetic herbs to the wine. The picture shows the details of the mural in the tomb of Pharaoh Neferhotep. On the left is a servant holding a wine glass, and on the right is the woman who obviously drank a lot. © Ryan Pope
Human beings are very strange creatures. They sacrifice wine to their ancestors, offer wine to gods, pour themselves wine and hope to create or maintain connections with these spirits - wine brings people far more than It's just the joy of being drunk. For contemporary urbanites, how to drink and use alcohol can be regarded as an important social practice course. In this aspect of , we might as well learn more from the ancients.
In the Han Dynasty, there was a prime minister named Cao Shen, who emphasized governing by doing nothing. When someone comes to his home to persuade him to work hard, Cao Xiangguo always invites him to drink without waiting for the other person to ask, and the other person cannot refuse out of politeness. Just as he was about to speak after drinking, Xiangguo's second glass of wine was already poured.
After drinking this cup, there is still one cup left; after finishing this cup, there are still three cups left. He kept drinking until the other party forgot what he was here for and started talking nonsense. According to "Hanshu" records, Cao Xiangguo, who was mean to the elderly, would also take them to the garden and sing to cheer them up.
Not long after, Cao Xiangguo’s subordinates also began to imitate their leader’s style of drinking to get out of trouble. Someone privately told Cao Xiangguo about this situation. When he heard about it, he quickly asked his subordinates to drink together... And endless stories.
Sometimes, drink to feel less. The departure of friends, love
