Huh, I recently heard someone say that certain people might like the taste of alcohol because it could correlate with higher calorie content and therefore be evolutionarily advantageous to desire fruit with alcohol in it
I do not have that gene or whatever because any amount of ethanol tastes vile to me, but a raccoon is a scavenger animal. It would make sense if animals who are more likely to eat overripe, rotting, or fermented food like omnivorous scavengers would be more likely to enjoy the taste of alcohol.
I wonder if any science has been done that affirms this hypothesis
I suspect a more simple explanation might be that social animals fuck more when drunk because it lubricates social inhibitions. It’s possible that gets into evolution if liking the alcohol means more reproduction.
But being drunk also decreases situational awareness which would not be evolutionarily advantageous… well I guess social animals might not need to be as situationally aware as solitary species, so maybe inebriation is a more likely explanation
You can sorta see it when you think about it. Dogs, rabbit, meerkats etc are all social but they’d be pretty harmed by the situational awareness issue so you don’t see those social animals having attachments to alcohol. Monkeys though? You definitely do.
I think your guess is right, the social animals that aren’t harmed by the situational awareness downside gain benefits from it and it found its way into genetics in places, while the other social animals don’t gain benefits. There’s even some bird species that actively avoid fermented fruits, probably because it’s a death sentence to be a drunk bird so that found its way into their genetics.
I’ve written about this before, but it’s a long story of experimentation so short story: I don’t really get drunk or hungover. So there’s no real source for me to form positive associations with the taste of alcohol.
The first time I drank I basically went on a bender with my cousin trying all the different kinds of hard liquor we could find. Gin is probably my favorite (the only ones whose flavor notes seem to actually go with the taste of alcohol), but I’d prefer water or juice over all of them. Anyway in the morning my cousin threw up, I didn’t.
I’ve been out to drink a few times since, and while the CNS depressant effects like breathing and heart rate show up. I don’t feel more relaxed or happy or buzzed or more social or brave/foolhhardy. I mostly just feel a headache, maybe dizziness if I drink a lot, and the thought of “why did I pay for a drink that tastes bad when I could’ve bought a cheaper one that actually tastes good?”
Huh, I recently heard someone say that certain people might like the taste of alcohol because it could correlate with higher calorie content and therefore be evolutionarily advantageous to desire fruit with alcohol in it
I do not have that gene or whatever because any amount of ethanol tastes vile to me, but a raccoon is a scavenger animal. It would make sense if animals who are more likely to eat overripe, rotting, or fermented food like omnivorous scavengers would be more likely to enjoy the taste of alcohol.
I wonder if any science has been done that affirms this hypothesis
I suspect a more simple explanation might be that social animals fuck more when drunk because it lubricates social inhibitions. It’s possible that gets into evolution if liking the alcohol means more reproduction.
But being drunk also decreases situational awareness which would not be evolutionarily advantageous… well I guess social animals might not need to be as situationally aware as solitary species, so maybe inebriation is a more likely explanation
You can sorta see it when you think about it. Dogs, rabbit, meerkats etc are all social but they’d be pretty harmed by the situational awareness issue so you don’t see those social animals having attachments to alcohol. Monkeys though? You definitely do.
I think your guess is right, the social animals that aren’t harmed by the situational awareness downside gain benefits from it and it found its way into genetics in places, while the other social animals don’t gain benefits. There’s even some bird species that actively avoid fermented fruits, probably because it’s a death sentence to be a drunk bird so that found its way into their genetics.
That changes when you drink it frequently, unless you drink too much and get really hungover in which case it’ll be the opposite
I’ve written about this before, but it’s a long story of experimentation so short story: I don’t really get drunk or hungover. So there’s no real source for me to form positive associations with the taste of alcohol.
The first time I drank I basically went on a bender with my cousin trying all the different kinds of hard liquor we could find. Gin is probably my favorite (the only ones whose flavor notes seem to actually go with the taste of alcohol), but I’d prefer water or juice over all of them. Anyway in the morning my cousin threw up, I didn’t.
I’ve been out to drink a few times since, and while the CNS depressant effects like breathing and heart rate show up. I don’t feel more relaxed or happy or buzzed or more social or brave/foolhhardy. I mostly just feel a headache, maybe dizziness if I drink a lot, and the thought of “why did I pay for a drink that tastes bad when I could’ve bought a cheaper one that actually tastes good?”